His business and passion is wool

PGG Wrightson Wool's new business development manager Craig Smith (right) with Campaign for Wool...
PGG Wrightson Wool's new business development manager Craig Smith (right) with Campaign for Wool chairman Nicholas Coleridge (centre) and chief operating officer Peter Ackroyd at Clarence House. Photos supplied.
Craig Smith chats to Prince Charles during a Campaign for Wool promotion at Clarence House.
Craig Smith chats to Prince Charles during a Campaign for Wool promotion at Clarence House.

Craig Smith is unashamedly passionate about wool.

Mr Smith, who has forged a career in the wool industry, has been appointed business development manager for PGG Wrightson Wool.

Based in Christchurch, he will service both the fine and strong wool businesses in the newly created position.

It was similar to his previous role with wool merchant and exporter H. Dawson, where he was also business development manager, but it meant a bigger opportunity to expose New Zealand wool to the market, he said.

PGG Wrightson Wool general manager Cedric Bayly said Mr Smith would continue to promote the importance of wool as a natural, renewable, biodegradable resource which offered ''numerous'' technical and ecological benefits.

''He understands that this is a two-way street and, as consumers make the move back to natural fibre, so, too, the farming community will need to grow their sheep numbers to maintain supply,'' Mr Bayly said.

Speaking from Osaka, in Japan, where he was seeking new opportunities for wool growers, Mr Smith said he was excited about the new job.

Brought up on the family sheep and beef farm in Elsthorpe, central Hawkes Bay, founded by his great-grandfather Doug Smith, he grew up with natural products.

His career in the wool industry included 10 years with H. Dawson in sole charge of its Japanese markets.

Mr Smith acknowledged it was ''very tough times'' for the fine end of the market and anything finer than 18.5 micron was very difficult to sell.

''There's no silver bullet to fix that market just now. I don't think anyone knows the answer to it,'' he said.

He was ''extremely disappointed'' that a recent bid to reintroduce a wool levy had failed.

He believed the Campaign for Wool was ''the way forward'' for the promotion of wool.

Initiated in 2008 by Prince Charles, the Campaign for Wool was a global initiative that aimed to highlight wool as a fibre that was an ecofriendly, comfortable, fashionable and durable option to cheaper and more disposable alternatives.

Mr Smith, who is one of the directors of Campaign for Wool in New Zealand, visited Clarence House, the London residence of Prince Charles, for tea in June, as part of a campaign promotion.

Representing New Zealand's wool interests, he met the prince, who is patron of the campaign, directors and others actively involved in spreading the word about wool on the international stage.

It was the third time he had met Prince Charles, whom he described as a ''really nice guy'' who was passionate about wool, farming and New Zealand.

Something that Mr Smith had noticed during his most recent visit to Japan was that the ''mindset'' was changing and people were being driven by quality, rather than price.

They were prepared to pay more, whether it was for garments or carpet, for products that were made in Japan.

Being able to say a product was made in Japan, from New Zealand wool, was a big selling point, he said.

Wool was an amazing product that was underutilised and many people did not know about it.

Last month, the Daily Mail reported the British wool industry, virtually on the brink of extinction five years ago, had experienced a remarkable resurgence since Prince Charles began the Campaign for Wool.

The industry had grown by 70% in the past three years to record sales of more than 300 million ($NZ615 million).

It now employed more than 8000 people in 40 mills and most of its production was exported.

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