THE Australian Wool Innovation director contingent that visited the major Italian textile trade fair at Biella last month has been described as having clear conflicts of interest, and leaving an embarrassed and disappointed wake, a letter from Italian manufacturers has claimed.
A leaked letter signed by nine Italian manufacturers, to AWI’s chairman Wal Merriman, claims that Laurence Modiano, Charles Olsson and Meredith Sheil did not express official AWI thinking and demonstrated a lack of knowledge of and extreme insensitivity to the mulesing issue on their recent visit to Milano Unica at Biella.
The revelations came just days after AWI’s chief executive Brenda McGahan stepped down having completed just 12 months in the top seat, citing a frustration with ongoing differences of opinion among members of the board as the reason for her departure.
The letter, signed by a who's who of the European manufacturing scene - Alessandro Berberis Canonico, Alfredo Botto Poalo, Francesco Botto Poalo, Paolo Botto Poalo, Rodolfo Botto Poalo, Luciano Donatelli, Pier Luigi Lora Piano, Sergio Tambourine and Paolo Zegna - claimed they were very embarrassed and disappointed at seeing people involved in clear conflicts of interest, implying the delegation were not acting in the interest of AWI.
“Frankly speaking we did not understand the real purpose of their visit and we are very concerned about the development it might have,” the letter said.
The letter also warned of a potential backlash if AWI developed market initiatives involving wool without consultation.
In a statement responding to the letter, Mr Merriman said he was disappointed that a private letter had been leaked, but took full responsibility for its criticism.
“Importantly this criticism comes from organisations I describe as 'partners in wool'; businesses that AWI has been working with to lift the demand for wool and introduce the fibre to a younger generation of consumers,” Mr Merriman said.
He added that he could only speculate the reasons why the letter was leaked, but said the group of directors were "acting with authority from and on behalf of the AWI board".
"The AWI board was sent to meet with key business partners across Asia and Europe," he said.
Mr Merriman, who insists he will not take action to curb the discourse from his directors who were elected by shareholders, told Rural Press that while the criticism from the Italians was accepted, the letter also stipulated that it would match AWI’s marketing spend dollar for dollar.
“This is the first time in my memory the Italian industry has offered to fund leveraged marketing initiates with AWI,” he said.
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