Summary

The 80th IWTO Congress, which recently concluded in Hangzhou,China, sought ways to advance the growing ecological trend in favour of wool as a renewable fibre and lifestyle choice for both interiors and fashion.

Delegates heard robust and upbeat marketing presentations from the Woolmark Company on the recently rolled out No Finer Feeling programme in Europe and the Gold Woolmark programme in China.

The worlds of interiors and fashion united behind John Thorley, Chairman of the Campaign for Wool, who came to Hangzhou to report on the Campaign in 2010 and to announce a series of global events in autumn 2011. Thorley confirmed that HRH The Prince of Wales had given his enthusiastic support to the Campaign being launched in China at this Congress for intense retail activity to take place in autumn 2012.

Praising the new relationship between IWTO and the Wool Industry's Chinese partners, outgoing President Gunther Beier and China Wool Textile Association (CWTA) President Madam Peng Yanli said at the close of the Congress: "These new IWTO initiatives with local industrialists will greatly increase collaboration and improve business communications with China, the world's largest consumer of wool".

At Congress, Peter Ackroyd (UK) was elected President of IWTO following Gunther Beier (Germany) whose term of office had ended. Piercarlo Zedda (Italy) was elected Vice President.