Wool business

At the IWTO Wool Round Table, held in Biella (Italy) on 3rd and 4th of November 2008, more than 50 leading woollen and worsted manufacturers met with representatives from grower nations to discuss amongst other issues, strategies on ‘how to sell more wool’.

Key discussions took place on 'lobbying' and 'marketing' for both apparel and interior textiles.

On the marketing side, the delegates reacted very positively to Australian Wool Innovation's marketing initiatives presented by AWI Chairman Brian van Rooyen during the event. AWI reported progress with key projects in China and Japan. The Japan marketing project launched this Fall targets a leading Japanese retailer in Tokyo, and several major men's and women's wear customers in Japan.

Günther Beier, President of IWTO welcomed this new era of co-operation between AWI and members of IWTO using the IWTO Wool Round Table as a platform where interaction between Grower/Marketing organisations such as AWI and others can debate their strategy and get useful industry input for their marketing initiatives in the interest of finding ways to "sell more wool at better prices" for both, grower and manufacturer. IWTO looks forward to building this relationship in any way that will be beneficial to wool. In conclusion Mr Beier thanked the Chairman of AWI, Mr Brian van Rooyen, and his team for making the effort of travelling to Biella to make the positive presentation and debate the strategy/initiatives with industry representatives.

Piercarlo Zedda, representing Sistema Moda Italia (SMI) and head of Italy's Delegation at IWTO, said: "Italy's key wool textile industrialists warmly welcome AWI's marketing initiatives in these important markets for the industry. We very much look forward to working closely with AWI in the future, particularly in Europe, where we hope to see similar projects being put into place in co-operation with the industry".

In respect to lobbying, the new activities of IWTO were seen as important steps designed to rid wool of the many competitive disadvantages that presently exist at government level world-wide, and the representatives of the industry strongly support the lobbying initiatives. As one example out of the field of interior textiles, the need exists of repositioning wool in such a way that wool becomes the premier fibre choice for architects and designers, when it comes to safety and health aspects in the design of high rise buildings, aircraft, trains, etc.