Summary: Viking of Norway sells wool products with the Norwegian flag and Norwegian motifs, but the wool is from Peru and the production takes place abroad. The company claims that they have rights to use the Norwegian flag on their products, but this has been rejected by the Norwegian Patent Board. The Consumer Council believes that the marketing can be misleading, as it can give the impression that the products are Norwegian-made. The general manager of Viking Garn, Ivar Audun Ullebust, rejects the criticism and claims that the use of the Norwegian flag is a symbol of high quality design. The industry is criticized for a lack of transparency about the origin of the wool used in the products. Viking Garn plans to get better at labeling where the wool comes from. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. The company Viking of Norway AS with headquarters in Oltedal in Gjesdal municipality in Rogaland sells products with a Norwegian label. The products are decorated with both the Norwegian flag and Norwegian motifs. But, as news has previously mentioned, the wool is from Peru and the production takes place abroad. Now several people are reacting to the fact that Viking of Norway has continued with the practice. These are some of the types of yarn sold on the website of Viking Garn. These skeins have the Norwegian flag as part of the design, which many people react to. Photo: Screenshot from Viking Garn Siv Heia Uldal is responsible for wool at Animalia, and she is clear in her speech: – I think it is special that they use a Norwegian flag as they do on some of their labels. The wool is not Norwegian, much of it is not pure wool and it is not spun in Norway either, she says. Siv Heia Uldal thinks the labeling of Viking Garn is special, but points out that there is a lot of misleading labeling of wool. Photo: Caroline Roka. / Animalia Nation mentioned the matter first (external link) – and Viking of Norway claimed to the newspaper that they had rights to the flag on the banner. The Norwegian Patent and Trademark Office rejected the claim and explained that the company only had patents for “Viking Yarn” and “Viking of Norway”. Did you know that yarn can be made from completely different things than wool? In the past, Viking of Norway has made woolen clothes from milk. Viking of Norway AS is the name of the company with the brands Viking of Norway for wool garments and Viking Garn for yarn and wool. The Norwegian flag is used in both companies. General manager at Viking Garn completely disagrees General manager Ivar Audun Ullebust at Viking Garn believes they are not trying to deceive anyone. – I think the criticism is terribly unfair. We never thought we would exploit the consumer. He believes that they would not have existed if they had only used Norwegian wool. – We play with open cards. The use of the Norwegian flag does not have to be a symbol of Norwegian wool, but a symbol of high quality design. Ivar Audun Ullebust thinks that the criticism is unfair. He says that he could not have run such a successful business if he had used Norwegian wool. Photo: Philip Kollstrøm / news Consumer Council: May be misleading marketing It is not stated anywhere on the website that the product is Norwegian. But with the name, the flag and the packaging, it’s easy to think otherwise. According to senior legal advisor Thomas Iversen at the Consumer Council, it can be misleading marketing if the impression left is that the product is Norwegian-made. Thomas Iversen of the Norwegian Consumer Council believes it may be a question of misguided marketing. Photo: The Consumer Council – If the impression left by the marketing is that the product is entirely Norwegian, while the production has been on the other side of the world, that should be more clearly marked, he says. Iversen emphasizes that he has not made a thorough legal assessment of the case, but he believes that consumers may end up feeling cheated if they believe that they bought Norwegian wool. – For many, it is a point to either support the local business community or buy products that have traveled a short distance. This yarn is not short-stitched. Some skeins are marked with Norwegian flags, while others are not. This also has an impact on what expectations consumers can have, he says. Do you care about where the wool comes from?🐑 Yes😤 No🙄 Show result Thinks the yarn and wool industry has a black belt in lying Although Ullebust from Viking Garn rejects the criticism, he says that they can do better at writing where the wool is from . – Where it says 70 per cent wool, we can write that it is from South America, Australia or New Zealand. We are going to adjust that and get better at it so that people don’t doubt that we drive openly with what we do. Tone Skårdal Tobiasson is a writer and journalist and co-author of the book Ren Ull. She has also been a Norwegian wool expert in the Sewing Masters. Tobiasson is not merciful in his judgement. – The industry has a black belt in lying, she says. Tone Skårdal Tobiasson tells news that the mislabeling is an industry problem. Photo: Arne Fredrik Næss / news Tobiasson believes that the yarn industry sometimes gives the impression that the products are Norwegian-made or have substances that are not really what they claim to be. Siv Heia Uldal in Animalia believes that there is a lot of misleading labeling of wool, and that they want greater transparency around what is Norwegian wool or not. On 15 January, Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) launched the “Made In Norway” quality mark. Now the goal is for this labeling to contribute to more transparency.
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Viking of Norway in Gjesdal is accused of misleading marketing about Norwegian yarn – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
