Wool Board Objects To Statement

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31784, 14 September 1968, Page 14

Wool Board Objects To Statement

The managing director of the International Wool Secretariat (Mr W. J. Vines) had been “almost flagrantly misrepresented” in a statement about the addition of brinyion to carpet yarn, published in "The Press" on September 5, said the publicity officer of the New Zealand Wool Board (Mr W. D. Grace).

In the “Now Decor” supplement of “The Press” Mr Vines was reported as saying: “With television keeping mgny people indoors, there were many complaints. To increase the abrasion resistance and to keep the price down, nylon was blended in . . .

we are promoting it to protect the 80 per cent wool content”

Mr Grace says Mr Vines was quoted out of context to suggest he is a champion of nylon in carpets. “The full story is this: Very light-weight carpets were satisfactory in British parlours until television Increased the traffic. Woven carpet makers were faced with lifting quality—and price—at the same time that the new tufted carpets were pulling prices dgwn. Their decision was hi hold the weight down, replace some

wool with nylon and, stay in the popular price range. Once the blend was established it was used in heavier carpets simply to avoid doubling up yarn stocks,” Mr Grace says. “The I.W.S. is promoting the blends in Britain not to protect the wool (as the quotation from Mr Vines suggests) but to protect our 80 per cent share of the market. “All this is in Britain and it does not apply here. The accountancy does not give a price advantage to the blend. There may be some wear benefit in light-weight British carpets, but the greater density of wool in almost all New Zealand grades makes nylon only a sales gimmick. The Consumers’ Institute in its recent test found no difference in wear between pure wool and the blend.

“Finally, nylon generates static electricity that attracts and holds soil. It also melts and scars permanently under cigarette butts. Carpet cleaners tell us that blended carpets are more difficult to keep,” Mr Grace says. The quotation by Mr Vines was supplied to “The Press” by the promoters of the “Now Decor.”