IF ONLY we could tell the world they were wearing wool.

There was US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington flanked by security men.

We are told that the First Lady was wearing wool, and by the cut of the suits and overcoats, President Obama and his guards were also most likely wearing wool, and plenty of it.

The big heavy overcoat, according to our auction wool buyers, is one of the best consumers of Merino oddments, cardings and fine crossbred wool.

For practical purposes, in the likes of cold winters in the US, the overcoat sells itself, which is a heck of lot better than other wool apparel in the middle of the current global crisis, particularly women's wear.

That itself raises challenges for Australian Wool Innovation's marketing program, which is committed to spending $40 million this year in joint venture or business-to-business arrangements with major manufacturers and retailers.

The question C&C wants AWI to answer is: if some of these retailers or manufacturers have opted to shelve their marketing programs because of the impact of the financial crisis on consumer spending, will AWI shelve its contribution to the respective partner?

Tassie sale

TASMANIA has hung on to its wool sales, at least for this year.

A declining clip has placed a lot of pressure on Tasmanian producers to sell their clips in Melbourne in recent years.

And while most of the Tasmanian wools are now sold in Melbourne, local speciality superfine producers have been keen to retain the tradition of an island sale without incurring the wrath of exporters or disrupting the mainland auctions.

This season, in fact next Friday, February 13, AWEX will trial a specialty sale in Launceston.

This sale will follow a two-day Melbourne sale on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Launceston sale will be restricted to 500 lots of "showcase" Tasmanian-only combing lines, rather than oddments and crossbreds.

The Tasmanians are hoping to maintain a tradition when the likes of the Japanese processor and manufacturer Ken Fujii would pride himself on attending the Launceston sales in the 1970s and '80s to pay world record prices for the Tasmanian Saxon-type wools.