Carpet-industry hope for wool sales

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32659, 15 July 1971, Page 10

Carpet-industry hope for wool sales

GVeiv Zealand Press Association! PALMERSTON NORTH,. July 14. Wool would find its salvation in the carpet industry, said Mr W. P. Riley, fohnerly of the International Wool Secretariat, af the Massey Wool Association conference in Pali»erston' North todav

Despite the enormous arid growing pressure from synthetic fibres there was an expanding future for New Zealand wool—and the biggest potential lay in carpet manufacture, he said. The reason for this was obvious. About 60 per cent of the New Zealand clip fell into the category of carpettype wools. It was estimated that more than 40 per cent of New Zealand wool exports -about-300m lb -of greasy wool—were actually going into the manufacture of carpets. +

Tin years ago carpets were only one-quarter of the total floor covering sales in Europe; today they occupied one-naif of the floor -coverings market and this trend for carpets was continuing. A major factor was the development of the tufting machine for carpet manufacture. Tufting enabled carpets to be produced at much higher speed and much lower prices —a development which also coincided with a rising standard of living in Europe. Tufted carpets, made initially of synthetic fibres, quickly began to fill the vast demand for cheap carpets in areas where hard floorings and rugs had long been the convention, said Mr Riley.

’’lt is tufted manufacture, the big growth sector of the market, that offers the greatest potential for wool,” he said.

Five years ago most tufted manufacturers had decided that wool would not run in tufted machines; they had tried it with disastrous results.

The I.W.S. set up a special technical unit and set about producing wool blends and yam specifications - which would meet the tests of commercial production. It also expanded the marketing, merchandising, and promotional side, and today the I.W.S. was in the “hardsell business,”