Lucrative opportunities exist for a renaissance of the Yorkshire wool textile industry - but only through better co-operation, innovation and marketing, says the new president of Bradford Textile Society.

In his inaugural speech Malcolm Campbell urged textile producers to stop doing things in the tired old ways and adopt a fresh approach.

Addressing the largest gathering of the textile society for more than 20 years, Mr Campbell urged members to work closely with each other as well as fibre producers, retailers and consumers.

The central theme of Mr Campbell's speech was that wool needed to be re-defined especially if it were to appeal to a younger audience more conscious of quality than price.

"Wool is too cheap," said Mr Campbell. "But wool is perceived as expensive but then it should be because it is a quality product."

He said washable wool suits could now be bought for under £70 from a retailer such as Matalan. This, he said, was a problem for the industry.

Mr Campbell outlined how the market had changed dramatically over the past decade or two. Few people now recognised quality and it was a question of re-educating consumers.

"There is a new opportunity to create products in Yorkshire but I don't think the White Rose alone will solve the problem. It's not about cheap prices or doing things easily," he said.

Mr Campbell, the commercial director of Woolmark, explained how it was working closely with retailers looking not just at next year but 2006 and 2007.

He explained how wool was increasingly being used for a wider range of products - sports wear, clothing for the military and emergency services, cool wool for hot climates and even a reintroduction of wool underwear.

Experiments with new wool-lined duvets had proved so successful that even the Princess Royal had written to Woolmark expressing her appreciation that one had been sent to the Royal household.

Mr Campbell stressed that in a new global market, closer co-operation was needed. He said: ''Gone were the days when the same product could be sold year in year out. Textiles should have a sell-by date like a sandwich so you have to be developing new things all the time."