Coast bedding firm fined over wool claim

A SOUTHPORT bedding company has been caught out trying to pull the wool over tourists' eyes.

An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation into the wool manufacturing industry has found that Gold Coast Wool Pty Ltd intended to fleece customers by falsely claiming its products were made of pure wool.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims said it was alleged that from November 2010 to August 2011, Gold Coast Wool attached labels to its bedding products with the official Woolmark logo and stated the products were made from "100 per cent wool".

But analytical testing of the bedding products showed quilt fillings consisted of just 58 per cent wool with the remainder found to be polyester.

"Misrepresentations of this nature undermine consumer confidence and warrant action," Mr Sims said.

"Consumers should be able to trust the representations that manufacturers make on their products. "This matter highlights the need for businesses, no matter how small, to be careful when they are promoting their products and to ensure labelling does not represent a product to be something that it is not."

He said the consumer watchdog believed the products were targeted at foreign tourists, who were often willing to pay a premium price for genuine wool products.

While not considered an admission of a breach by authorities, the company in late December paid a $6600 penalty issued by the ACCC.

Efforts to contact a representative of Gold Coast Wool, which makes and sells underlay blankets, quilting and alpaca products at its Jackman St premises, were unsuccessful yesterday.

But its website still claimed to use "pure and new natural wool" in its manufacturing process and displayed the Woolmark symbol, a valued label denoting the use of high-quality fibres.

An Australian Wool Innovation spokesman said the company had been given the green light to use the Woolmark logo again after "all faulty product" was destroyed and tests established the new products met specifications.

"AWI/Woolmark was glad to work with the ACCC to uphold the standards and specifications of the Woolmark and have been doing so for some time," he said.

"We continue to work with equivalent organisations around the world to protect the integrity of the Woolmark logo."