Plans To Boost Sales Of Wool Carpets In U.S.

Press, Volume C, Issue 29525, 29 May 1961, Page 12

Plans To Boost Sales Of Wool Carpets In U.S.

Wool interests in the United States were taking urgent action to maintain the place of wool in the carpet industry in that country, Mr J. Acland, chairman of the New Zealand Wool Board, said in Christchurch on Saturday on his return from a meeting of the reconstituted board of the International Wool Secretariat in Sydney and Melbourne. New Zealand is the largest exporter of raw wool to the United States. The Wool Bureau (Incorporated) of New York was planning to start a nationwide campaign in support of wool carnets, he said. “New Zealand is the largest exporter of raw wool to the United States, and wool is taking an increasing share of the American carpet trade," said Mr Acland "Our wool is especially suited to the tufted carpet trade, but we need to take strong and immediate measures to forestall the synthetic manufacturers who will make a strong drive for new business.” Mr Acland said that three major blanket manufacturers in the United States werr making a shrink-resiktant wool blanket that could not only be washed in any washing machine but could be dried in an automatic tumble drier. Under severe tests these new blankets had stood up ■wonderfully well, and large sales of them were expected. Famous American brand names would be u*ed in a strong advertising programme now being organised by the Wool Bureau, he said Wool’s Loss The reconstituted board of the International Wool Secretariat meeting for the first time in Melbourne and Sydney during the last two weeks gave considerable attention to the situation in the United States, where wool had suffered a 30 per cent, loss in the textile market since 1950. The directors of the United States branch of the sec-

retariat (Wool Bureau Incorporated', however, reported that the introduction of permanent creasing had stimulated a great deal of interest in the United States both in the wool trade and among retailers. This, together with the introduction of machine - washable, machine-dryable wool knitgoods and blankets had assisted in creating an entirely new atmosphere for the wool fibre in America.

The directors reported that because of the high cost of advertising in America and the large population, their promotion programme was designed to link with key retail stores and manufacturers in a direct effort to promote interest in specific articles in the most vital market areas.