Wool Competition: 2024 Innovation in Wool Awards now open to applications

The 2024 Innovation in Wool Awards, boasting a prize pool of £30,000, are now accepting applications.

2024 Innovtion in Wool Awards celebrate the versatility and potential of wool while contributing to the revitalization of the British wool industry.
Image from the Campaign for Wool

The deadline for submissions is July 21st, 2024, with the winners set to be announced on September 17th, 2024.

This award welcomes entries from individuals and organizations showcasing wool in groundbreaking and imaginative ways. Whether in apparel, interior design, construction, insulation, agriculture, horticulture, medicine, aquaculture, or other scientific and innovative industrial applications, if your project utilizes wool in a novel manner, we want to hear from you.

Spearheaded by The Woolmen's Company Charitable Incorporated Organisation, The Company of The Merchants of the Staple of England Charitable Trust, and The Worshipful Company of Clothiers (Worcester), this annual accolade is supported by the Campaign for Wool. 

It was established in response to the historical decline of the UK wool industry. However, with recent positive indicators signaling a resurgence in the sector, the Campaign for Wool is collaborating with these esteemed organizations to foster innovation and explore new avenues for wool utilization that meet the demands of the 21st century.

Entrants from around the globe are encouraged to apply, but they must demonstrate a commitment to the following criteria, with an emphasis on British involvement:

* Contributing value to British wool farming

* Incorporating British wool fiber

* Utilizing British manufacturing processes

* Outlining potential wool volume projections for the first year and beyond

Ensuring compliance with patents, copyrights, and intellectual property rights through due diligence conducted by both applicants and award organizers.

Global Footwear Awards 2021 is inviting footwear designers across the globe to showcase their best work

The LA-based Global Footwear Awards (GFA) is now accepting submissions before the early bird deadline closes on July 26th, 2021.

On a mission to uncover visionary design talents, both established and student designers are invited to submit their most innovative and game-changing designs.

The GFA recognizes visionary design talent from around the worlsdd with an ambition to provide the highest recognition to footwear designers in all footwear divisions, from Fashion to Sports. Entries are evaluated at three different levels: Brands, Independent Designers and students, in order to provide a fair opportunity to each level.

Hodei_club by Benjamin Thomas
Category winner in Ethical Manufacturing 
No glue / No-sew / Limited materials / Easy to disassemble or repair / Simple to Recycle

According to Hossein Farmani, president of International Design Awards (IDA), sister company to GFA, the Global Footwear Awards honours the best in the industry, addressing creativity, innovation, sustainability and social impact.

“We, at International Design Awards (IDA), are very excited to create an awards specifically for footwear design as we see a tremendous design potential within this field. I see a fast-growing momentum of young footwear talents that truly deserve global recognitions. There are many great works that bridges art, footwear and technology together, which is extremely exciting”, said Hossein Farmani, International Design Awards (IDA) president. 

The GFA Jury Panel consists of leading international professionals from different disciplines within the footwear industry, including renowned footwear professionals, major publications, retailers and institutions. Judges will particularly be on the lookout for extraordinary designers who are producing coveted and exceptional creations.

"The special part of the Global Footwear Awards is the way we evaluate designs, not by popularity, but through the lens of cross-disciplinary professionals, with a long experience within the footwear industry. The winning designs will truly make a mark and set examples of what true innovation and sustainability means in the footwear industry”, added Siramol On-Sri, GFA Director.

The Global Footwear awards also honours strategic thinking and innovative solutions to medical footwear, sustainability and social impact to inspire many more social responsibility projects to come. 

Here are some of their jury’s words:

“Having judged the awards and really investigated what each brand/trainer was about, it was so great to see a dedication to sustainability and ethical practices on so many fronts. It's one thing designing and manufacturing great-looking shoes, but to do so and achieve a high-level of sustainable awareness at the same time is applaudable.” Zak Maoui, British GQ Style Editor.

“Apart from enjoying the variety in creativity I was most happy to see that more and more designers start to think of footwear as an area to tackle socio-political issues and so plays a part in taking the discipline beyond only reproducing styles of fashion, and playing with technology, and engaging with real-life issues.” Eelko Moorer, London College of Fashion MA footwear course leader.

The Global Footwear Awards aims to celebrate their exceptional creations at a global level, while honouring sustainable practices that will inspire the industry as a whole.  

For more information, click HERE.  

COTTON USA partners with London university to support future textile talent

News have emerged that COTTON USA – the global promoter of U.S. cotton fiber and manufactured cotton products - are in partnership with Loughborough University London to launch its first Innovation Competition especially designed to support and showcase the future talent of the interior, fashion and textiles industries.

The initiative is especially designed to encourage undergraduate students to work innovatively us U.S. cotton, and help to support them gain valuable experience before they enter the industry and world-of-work.

Second year students specialising in textiles and fabrics will take part in the competition and will receive individual support to develop new and innovative ways of working with U.S. cotton.

COTTON USA will promote participating students’ work to a global network of brands and retailers, giving the undergraduates a platform to demonstrate their technical knowledge, and elevate the profile of their creative designs.

At London Fashion Week, COTTON USA sponsored design duo palmer//harding (Levi Palmer and Matthew Harding), known as "The Shirt Boys" due to their knack for reinventing the classic cotton shirt. 

Just days earlier in March, Loughborough University announced the nomination of Lord Sebastian Coe as the University’s new and 6th Chancellor.

The Chancellor is the Chief Ambassador of the University, presides over ceremonial functions and confers degrees on graduates of the University.     Lord Coe is replacing Sir Nigel Rudd, and officially installed at the University’s summer graduation ceremonies in July.

Lord Coe, as seen in picture at right, is notably one of the world’s most high profile sportsmen and made Olympic history by winning gold and silver in the 1980 and 1984 Games.

A Loughborough alumni himself, Lord Coe is perhaps best known as Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the highly successful 2012 Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, having previously been Chairman of the London 2012 bid company, and was Chairman of the British Olympic Committee in the lead up to and during the unprecedented medal success of Team GB at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

Lord Coe is currently the Loughborough University’s Pro-Chancellor and President of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF).  He graduated from Loughborough with a BSc in Economics and Social History and set 12 world records during his athletics career.

Winners of the 2016 Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery announced.

The 2016 Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery once again illustrated that intricate surface fabric texture adds invaluable value to the garments and products they adorn.

Annalisa Middleton
Winner of the Gold & Silver Wyre Drawer Award and the Fashion Open Category 1st Prize
Model: Antonina Kozerovskaya Photographer: Jutta Klee

This year's event, held at the historic Bishopsgate Institute in London on the 3rd of November, was billed by the organisers as being ever more dynamic, providing entrants with the opportunity to explore their creativity and showcase their talents in a variety of ways.

The Annual Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery (organised by well-established Hand & Lock London which has been producing some of the finest embroidery since 1767) was established to encourage the use of hand embroidery and seeks to discover emerging embroidery talent.

 Jin Kim Fashion Student Category 1st Prize
Model: Louise Laag  
Photographer: Jutta Klee

This year the Wilcom Institutional Prize was awarded to The Royal College of Arts - the erll-known London University with the most entrants into the Prize.  
The Gold & Silver Wyre Drawer Award went to Annalisa Middleton, who was also the winner of the Fashion Open Category Prize.
In the Fashion Student Category, the winner was Jin Kim.
First prize in the Textile Art Open Category was won by Sally Wilson and the top winner of the Textile Art Student Prize went to Devi Vallabhaneni

Embroidery by Sally Wilson
Textile Art Open Category 1st Prize
Photographer: Elena Molina

In total there were 24 finalists who presented the most creative interpretation and exceptional execution of the brief given.  The final prizes were decided by judges as well as public vote combined.

Congratulations therefore are in order to all 2016 winners for their amazing creativity.

Wilcom Institutional Prize:
The Royal College of Arts
The Gold & Silver Wyre Drawer Award:
Annalisa Middleton
Fashion Open Category Prize Winners
1st prize: Annalisa Middleton
2nd prize: Elena Savelyeva
3rd prize: Charlotte Appleby
Fashion Student Category Prize Winners
1st prize: Jin Kim
2nd prize: Ryan Gambel
3rd prize: William Lathrop
Textile Art Open Category Prize winners
1st prize: Sally Wilson
2nd prize: Emma Cassi
3rd prize: Eranga Bandaranayake
Textile Art Student Prize Winners
1st prize: Devi Vallabhaneni
2nd prize: Suzanne Treacy
3rd prize: Sarah Tickner

UK’s freshest new models to compete in world event in China in November

The winners Chris Tydings and Charlotte Corn will go on to compete for the UK
at the Elite Model Look World Final in November held in China.

Meet new models Chris Tydings and Charlotte Corn (above) who have been selected at a special competition hosted by the Elite Model Look and British fashion brand Superdry.   The two young models will compete for the UK at the Elite Model Look World Final in November in China.
While it was in its 7th year running, it’s the first time that Superdry had teamed up with Elite Model UK as their official Fashion Partner. 

Ten finalists took to the catwalk at Superdry’s flagship store, on London’s Regent Street, to showcase the latest Superdry Collection in front of a panel of judges, which included fashion experts from the teams at Elite, Superdry and, fashion designer, TV personality and Elite Model Look UK ambassador, Oliver Proudlock.  

The event started with a champagne reception where fashion advocates, bloggers and editors were among some of the many guests who were entertained with beats from Femme while sipping on uniquely mixed Perrier based cocktails. 

The stiff competition that took place a couple of weeks ago also resulted in two extra surprise winners - Kofi Morris Heather and Elli Jordan - who will both feature in the next Superdry collection campaign.  Congratulations to all the winners.

The 10 finalists outside Superdry's flagship store at Regent Street in London.
Over the last few months, both Superdry and Elite teams scouted the UK in pursuit of finding the freshest faces to take part in the competition.

Superdry is renowned for their portfolio of critically acclaimed models, including Cindy Crawford, Ming Xi and Gisele Bündchen, and was said to be thrilled to be involved with Elite, helping young men and women enter the competitive world of fashion.