April’s three-day International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) congress, the 88th such annual event the body has convened, was held in Venice. 

More than 320 delegates attended from throughout the global wool textile pipeline. 

Global fashion brand Benetton hosted one day of the congress, at its headquarters in Treviso.

Sustainability was the main focus, with developments in wool traceability, transparency in the supply chain, and research on wool’s contributions to health and wellness all covered. 

NASA’s testing and use of wool was explained to delegates, highlighting how wool baselayers are valued in the space programme, both for their ease of care and ability to remain fresh after repeated wear, as well as for wool’s ‘human factor’ values of comfort, odour, static, and performance.

IWTO president Peter Ackroyd emphasised that the message of environmental excellence carried by wool is in danger of being swamped by well-funded, though spurious, messages from unsustainable alternatives, observing that anyone who wishes to abstain from meat, fish and dairy for the well-being of the planet, can conclude that using wool is entirely ethical. He also noted that the revival of ethics in lifestyle and fashion mean choices that stand the test of time, without contributing to ecological imbalance.