Campaign For Wool launches Wool Week with student design contest results

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Oct 9, 2020

Wool Week is now in full swing, with leading fashion and knitwear brands launching limited-edition creations designed by students from across the UK.

The event is run by Campaign for Wool, a multi-national coalition launched in the UK by Prince Charles in 2010 to educate consumers about the benefits of wool. 

Students from universities across the UK, as well as partner institutions in New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, were invited to take part in this year’s Student Design Competition and work with brands across knitwear, tailoring and interiors to design unique wool items.

Marks & Spencer asked students to create capsule tailoring and knitwear pieces, Finisterre’s brand challenge involved designing an innovative pair of socks using repurposed and recycled fibre and jumper designs inspired by British heritage and the outer Hebrides were submitted for Brora.

Other brands involved included John Smedley, Celtic & Co., Hackett, Finisterre and Anderson & Sheppard, to name a few.

12 of the winning designs will be sold as limited-edition pieces at labels including Brora, John Smedley, Celtic & Co., The Floor Story, Alternative Flooring, Margo Selby, Holland & Sherry, Blackhouse, Anderson & Sheppard and Hackett.

Student placements were offered to winning students by Marks & Spencer, John Smedley, Margo Selby and Finisterre.

“The Student Design Competition is an ideal opportunity for the worlds of textile and fashion education to connect with industry in a series of collaborations that showcase the environmental credentials and diverse applications of wool in lifestyle and fashion. By creating these partnership opportunities with leading brands, the students are able to add a strong commercial dimension to their course work in preparation for careers in the industry,” said Peter Ackroyd, COO of The Campaign for Wool.

Nicholas Coleridge, chairman of The Campaign for Wool, added: “The primacy of wool should be taught in every school, as well as at every fashion and textile college. We are so grateful to the brands for inviting the students into their businesses - carpet and rug designers, as well as fashion houses - and we applaud the students too for giving fleece a chance.”