January 9, Florence - The 2017/18 International Woolmark Prize winners were today announced during a special event during Pitti Uomo at Stazione Leopolda in Florence.

The womenswear, menswear and inaugural Innovation Award winners were announced after being judged by a panel including including Amber Valletta, Elizabeth Von Guttman, Emanuele Farneti, Julie Davies, Livia Firth, Liya Kebede, Miroslava Duma, Nonita Kalra, Phillip Lim, Riccardo Vannetti, Sarah Mower and Stuart McCullough along with representatives from the International Woolmark Prize retail partner network.

“Today we saw the world’s best emerging designers present a true celebration of fashion design and innovation, as they shone the spotlight on Australian Merino wool,” said The Woolmark Company Managing Director Stuart McCullough. “Each year, the competition has been fierce and this year was no different. I would also like to commend the mills and spinners who supplied the labels with luxury fabrics and yarns and assisted in the development of innovative fabrications.”

More than 65 designers from more than 60 countries were nominated for this year’s award, with finalists representing six different regions around the world. The global finalists were SixLee and KYE (Asia), Blair Archibald and Harman Grubiša (Australia & New Zealand), Matthew Miller and Le Kilt (British Isles), L'Homme Rouge and David Laport (Europe), Antar-Agni and Bodice (Indian Subcontinent and Middle East) and DYNE and Zaid Affas (USA).

The menswear and womenswear winners will each receive AU$200,000 to help support the development of their business. They will also receive ongoing industry mentor support, Woolmark certification for their winning collection and the opportunity to be stocked in some of the world’s most prestigious department stores and boutiques, including Boutique 1, Boon The Shop, David Jones, Harvey Nichols, Hudson's Bay, Lane Crawford, LECLAIREUR, mytheresa.com, ORDRE, Parlour X, Ssense.com, Sugar and Tata CLiQ Luxury. The Innovation Award winner will receive $100,000 along with commercial opportunities.

The Woolmark Company is pleased to have the support of Fondazione Pitti Discovery and Pitti Uomo, TONI&GUY, makeup by MAC, ORDRE and Future Tech Lab for the 2017/18 International Woolmark Prize global final.

About The Woolmark Company:

The Woolmark Company is the global authority on wool. Through our extensive network of relationships spanning the international textile and fashion industries, we highlight Australian wool’s position as the ultimate natural fibre and premier ingredient in luxury apparel.

The Woolmark logo is one of the world’s most recognised and respected brands, providing assurance of the highest quality, and representing pioneering excellence and innovation from farm through to finished product.

The Woolmark Company is a subsidiary of Australian Wool Innovation, a not-for-profit enterprise that conducts research, development and marketing along the worldwide supply chain for Australian wool on behalf of about 60,000 woolgrowers that help fund the company.

Winners announced for the 2017/18 International Woolmark Prize

• Design Fashion Florence Innovations International Woolmark Prize Winners
• At 1/11/2018 12:44:00 a.m.
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Record numbers at the Postbahnhof –
and eco-fashion more significant than ever

Substantial increase in visitors
as mainstream retailers recognise the potential of green fashion

Fashion shows wow buyers and VIPs alike

With every ticket sold at the Postbahnhof venue, substantially increased visitor numbers and a variety of enthralling innovations, Greenshowroom and the Ethical Fashion Show Berlin have now ended, after three highly three successful and action-packed days. “The duo of green trade fairs won over their audiences with the extremely high quality of the collections displayed within a newly expanded space. The high visitor numbers seen on all three days of the events prove to us that the great diversity of what we are offering is of genuine appeal. Particularly from mainstream retailers, we are registering even higher levels of interest,” says Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies at Messe Frankfurt. With 179 international labels*, the pair of trade fairs has once again earned its place both as the main platform for ecologically and fairly produced fashion during Berlin Fashion Week and as a unique hotspot within Europe for sustainable fashion.

At Greenshowroom, a total of 40 international contemporary labels were on display. There, designers wowed audiences with their skilful mixing of styles, as glamour was excitingly combined with sporting chic. For the coming autumn/winter season, more colourful and contrasting looks are on trend. These include broad silhouettes combined with tailored fits and dusky tones set against showy colours. “We’ve enjoyed three very successful days. As well as our many existing clients, the newly added‘Active Slow’ area has made a positive impact and enabled us to hold some good conversations,” explains Florian Werner, Managing Director of Werner Schuhe. At the Ethical Fashion Show Berlin, 139 different labels successfully showcased a wide variety of looks for the next autumn/winter season. Buyers and in an expanded space, industry players were exposed to a broad spectrum of sophisticated fashion.

“We’ve been involved right from the very start and love exhibiting at the Ethical Fashion Show Berlin,” Bert van Son, Managing Director of Mud Jeans explains enthusiastically. “We are really happy about the growth in the two events and are pleased to have taken part in the new Sportswear International area in the club. Both German and international retailers have placed orders with us and were excited by our concept.”

Retailers confirm increasing demand for eco-fashion
The trend is continuing – more and more mainstream retailers are visiting Berlin as they plan to give a platform to eco-fashion. “It’s our first time here and we’ve placed orders right away. In doing this, we’re responding to the ever-increasing demand for green fashion from our customers and are expanding our range with attractive new lines,” reports Axel Haubrok of the Susanne Kissel fashion house in Speyer, south-west Germany. There was also an appreciable rise in the number of international visitors to the shows.

A high energy display opportunity for designers
At the “Salonshow”, selected Greenshowroom designers were able to showcase some of the most exciting trends in contemporary fashion for A/W 2017/18. For the first time ever, Messe Frankfurt arranged for the catwalk show to take place in Berlin’s Energieforum, a dynamic setting for the highlights of the new collections. The show included pieces from a highly varied selection of current labels, including outfits by Austriandesign.at, Biaggi, Blue Valley, Inti Ferreira, Johanna Riplinger, Lanius, LaniusXKunert, Royal Blush, Studio Elsien Gringhuis, Studio Jux and Xess+Baba. “The Salonshow was a complete success,” says Katharina Ley, Head of PR at Lanius. “It gave us a great opportunity to present our partnership with Kunert on the runway. We had goose bumps when we saw the front row nicely full of top journalists and celebrities like Eva Padberg, and the bright eyes of the sell-out audience.” Musical accompaniment was provided by Mischa Blanos.

During the “Ethical Fashion on Stage” catwalk show, international casual designers showcased a broad selection from their A/W collections. The show included new items from the following labels that were exhibiting at the Ethical Fashion Show Berlin: B Frog, C. Pauli, Chapati, Colombo3, Elementum, Greenbomb, Jaspe, Komodo, Myssyfarmi, Naturaline, Organication, Shirts for life and Tranquillo. To finish the show, lavera Naturkosmetik presented the collection of the winner of the January 2016 lavera Green Fashion Award: Paul Iby & Johanna Winklhofer. The soundtrack was supplied by Delfonic.

“Prepeek” – opening new routes of communication
With PrePeek, the organisers of the trade fair duo for the first time arranged a blogger and influencer initiative – in cooperation with Hamburg-based fashion website Kleiderei.com and with support from Weleda. Thanks to the many bloggers and influencers who took part, the event, which received great feedback, was a resounding success. Those taking part chose items from the collections of the participating labels and included them in photo shoots to present to their online communities. In this way, new routes of communication were opened, via the bloggers and influencers, to consumer audiences.

The next editions of Greenshowroom and the Ethical Fashion Show Berlin will be held from 4 to 6 July 2017.

Greenshowroom & Ethical Fashion Show Berlin 17-19 January 2016

• Berlin Collections Ethical Fashion Show Fashion Innovations Shows
• At 1/25/2017 11:35:00 a.m.
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