"It's not about making new things for it ... if we don't tell people what wool is about, we've lost the case.
"You can make the product [but] if people don't know about wool, how do we get them to buy it? If we don't give them a reason to look for wool, they are not going to look for wool," he said.
In a world where people were "screaming and yelling about plastic in oceans" and the whale washed ashore in eastern Indonesia with 115 plastic drinking cups in its stomach, wool was an option that could help solve those problems.
But sales people often did not have a clue about where wool came from, let alone know it was biodegradable, he said.
Wool in Schools, part of the global Campaign for Wool, had converted a shipping container into a "wool shed" that had been travelling around New Zealand educating school pupils about wool.
It had been highly successful and was booked out until the third term next year. Now there was global interest in it, he said.
Unlike crossbred wool, fine wool prices were looking good and bigger retail brands around the world were looking to get "into the green space", which was encouraging, he said.
The market for a reduced offering at last week's South Island wool sale in Christchurch meant prices finished in sellers' favour for crossbred wool types, compared with the previous sale.
Widespread rain throughout the South Island meant the offering was almost 2000 bales short of roster, ensuring buyers were keen to secure volumes to process before Christmas, PGG Wrightson Wool's South Island sales team said.
Prices for a limited offering of mid micron wool took a very sharp lift, reflecting the significant rise in those types across the Tasman last week.
A few lots of last season's lamb's wool also sold at solid levels, possibly indicating new season's lamb's wool would be in keen demand.
