“China has 1.4 billion people and many of them want warm quilts,” Yu, 38, said. “So we export 85 per cent of our quilts there.”

Why does China like Australian wool?

The number of sheep shorn each year in Australia has dropped dramatically.

Drop in exports

“Also, there is a casualisation of the workforce, so people are not wearing [woollen] suits as often.”

‘Speaking Chinese was an advantage’

“The main reasons are barriers around language and culture. So, that’s why I have an advantage speaking Chinese.”

Clark Yu as a teenager in China with his mum, Li Sun. Source: Supplied / Clark Yu

For many Australian wool producers, however, the broader outlook remains bleak.

“Australia exports around 80 per cent of that wool to China as greasy wool, and as there is no manufacturing in Australia, they do all the processing or manufacturing there,” Turner said.

A trend-defying move

“The concept is to attach chips to the quilts, so to monitor heartbeats or blood pressure while people are sleeping.”

Clark Yu at his Melbourne quilt factory. Source: Supplied / Clark Yu

While growing this startup has been “hard and lonely at times”, Yu is ambitious to do more.

This story was produced in collaboration with SBS Chinese.