Wool4School Italia, the annual fashion design competition organized by The Woolmark Company to support and foster the growth of designers to promote the use of Merino wool, has launched its fifth edition for 2023. 

This year's partner will be Slam Jam, a well-known insider in the underground fashion and research industry, and an international leader in street culture.

 

"Do you know what a Jam Session is?", is the theme of this edition that stimulates students' creative improvisation to design an outfit of up to four garments using at least 70% Merino wool.




The objective of the project is to deepen the knowledge of wool fiber and its benefits by exploring innovative ways to use it together with other materials with the same sustainable vocation.

The winner will be offered the opportunity to participate in a two-week internship at Slam Jam and to see the outfit created for the contest made. In addition, the overall winner will receive an educational experience with a two-day trip to the Biella textile district at Vitale Barberis Canonico and Tintoria Finissaggio 2000 as a prize, as well as other awards to the other winners.

"We are honored to have Slam Jam as a partner in the project," says Francesco Magri, regional manager Europe, C&E, The Woolmark Company. "It's been more than 30 years that the group founded by Luca Benini represents one of the most incisive and influential brands in underground culture, and today working together with young students to explore the new frontiers of merino wool creates exciting energies around this noble fiber that is increasingly a protagonist in the world of kids."

 

"We are very happy to participate in this program that reflects Slam Jam's mission in promoting and celebrating the free creative expression of the new generations," said Luca Benini, founder, Slam Jam.

 

Participating schools will receive a dedicated prize for teachers for wool or wool-blend fabrics worth of €1,000. Registration for the competition will end on March 31, 2023, while the winner will be announced in May after a careful jury evaluation of the submitted projects.

The last edition of Wool4School saw the winner Giacomo Bussani, a fifth-year student at Liceo Artistico Enrico and Umberto Nordio in Trieste, with the project inspired by his own mother, "My First Lady." Selected from more than 470 projects submitted, Bussani was awarded for the creative and evocative way of interpreting the theme provided "Design for your Hero" through clear drawings for the detailed account of the entire design process and for the research on new technologies to be integrated into comfortable garments.