Jan 18/25; Volume 30/Number 15
By Bridgette Kelly
Each year the wool industry faces the challenge of promoting its many impressive and superior benefits to an audience that includes retailers, designers, architects and your everyday, ordinary consumers.
Wool is my world but I would be the first to admit it’s not a straightforward sell, and perhaps therein lies the crux of the issue. Some retailers totally understand the story of wool and others don’t. The easier-to-understand attributes of man-made fibers undoubtedly make for an easy sale. The story of wool is fantastic, but the many assets are often less appealing to the sales team on the show floor because it requires a little more understanding.
Over the last five years the Campaign for Wool has run a significant awareness campaign across the world to achieve improved understanding and desire for naturally grown, sustainable wool. We have brochures, iBooks, POS and short films in abundance, but sometimes all people want are some key pointers to use. How can we make it easy for retailers? I would use four defined reasons to explain to customers why wool is best.
1. Strength/bounce back
Wool has a natural crimp and springs back over and over again. This built-in strength reduces flattening and the tired carpet look.
2. Practical
Wool will naturally repel liquids and stains allowing time for cleanup. This also reduces the need for toxic cleaning agents. Its pile responds brilliantly to a regular vacuuming producing a nicely uplifted and revived look.
3. Long-lasting appearance
Wool has a proven track record of durability and amazing appearance retention; this is one reason why hotels and other commercial settings choose it. Wool is the carpet choice that presents the best value over its lifetime.
4. Comfort
If you want a truly comfortable floor, wool is the fiber you need as its smart, spring-like structure multiplied thousands of times in a living space will provide cushion-like softness underfoot as well as insulation against noise transfer and heat loss.
New for 2016
2016 is now upon us and the Campaign for Wool has launched its “The World is Better with Wool” promotion, which centers on the “Choose Wool…Choose Well-being” message. Well-being is often misused these days but most of us understand that wellbeing is about more than one thing—it’s about how we feel, our health and our physical environment.
This new promotion looks at the beneficial impact wool has on the interior space and the added value it provides to our homes and to our lives. We want people to experience the benefit that wool lends to a living space, from improved air-quality and improved safety through reduced risk of fire.
The simple reality of wool is that it is a quality fiber continually removing toxins from the air we breathe. How? Well, it has a natural cell structure (remember it was once on a sheep) that will absorb volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and lock them into its complex, spongy core, never to be released. Put simply, wool carpet is cleaning the air you breathe and improving your well-being. To learn more, visit the Campaign for Wool at Surfaces booth 432.