Wool Week 2018

Monday, 21 May 2018

Press Release

Australia’s iconic wool industry will once again be in the spotlight as woolgrowers, fashion designers, retailers and consumers unite to celebrate The Woolmark Company’s Wool Week Australia. An initiative that arose from the global Campaign for Wool, Wool Week champions the eco-credentials of the fibre, making it the perfect choice for today’s conscious consumer.

Natural and biodegradable, wool provides the global apparel industry with the most renewable, recyclable and reusable fibre on the planet. And with Australia producing 90 per cent of the world’s fine apparel wool suitable for the high-end fashion market, it’s no surprise that some of the country’s biggest labels and retailers are throwing their support behind the campaign and using an increasing amount of Merino wool within their collections.

With celebrations running across the country from May 24 to June 3, Westfield joins the campaign as a major partner, releasing its wool-focused winter campaign in time for Wool Week at 39 centres across Australia and New Zealand celebrating the growers who produce the fibre and the designers who use it. Championing Merino wool in fashion, activewear and homeware, the campaign showcases wool’s natural benefits and takes customers back to the source of the fibre, filmed on a wool-growing property near Goulburn, NSW, owned by Dave and Skye Ward.

Nine Westfield centres across Australia and New Zealand will come alive during Wool Week, hosting exclusive events and activations including extreme knitting workshops, visual merchandise displays showcasing retailer wool product, interior design workshops, and fashion exhibitions. Westfield Sydney will host esteemed artist, Natalie Miller, who’ll create a live knitting installation, whilst Westfield Doncaster will showcase a collection of International Woolmark Prize garments, in a celebration of the world’s best emerging fashion designers.

Westfield has again collaborated with The Woolmark Company for its winter fashion campaign, celebrating Australian Merino wool, the growers who produce the fibre and the brands who use it.

Celebrations include Natalie Miller creating live knitting installations at Westfield Sydney, interior design workshops with LuMu where customers can learn how to layer with wool at Westfield Bondi Junction, and an International Woolmark Prize exhibition at Westfield Doncaster showing customers the very best, innovative wool fashion.

In partnership with the Art Gallery of NSW, Australia’s most-loved extreme knitter, Jacqueline Fink, will be hosting a series of workshops in the gallery’s Wool Lounge. Participants will be treated to a unique masterclass and will leave with their very own extreme knitting creation made from Australian Merino wool. The Art Gallery of NSW’s exclusive Wool Lounge is set up near The Lady and the Unicorn exhibition that showcases a collection of rare French medieval masterpieces mostly made from wool and silk highlights.

Also celebrating Wool Week are fashion retailers CUE, David Lawrence, Helen Kaminski, Icebreaker KOOKAI, MARCS, Otto & Spike, Oxford, Parlour X, R.M Williams, SAAKI, SABA, and Veronica Maine. St Ives Shopping Centre sees knitting workshops for all ages and knitting stations so that visitors can help knit scarves to do be donated with the yearly coat drive to those in need.

No stranger to wool and its plethora of benefits, Jacqueline Fink has created an extreme knitting masterpiece starting with a ball of wool, now on show in the main window of Sportscraft’s Pitt St Mall store until the end of Wool Week.

“The Woolmark Company’s Wool Week is an annual celebration which puts wool at the forefront of shoppers’ minds,” says Australian Wool Innovation CEO Stuart McCullough. “Thanks to the support of leading brands and retailers, along with educational activities, Wool Week aims to reconnect consumers with the versatility and natural benefits of Australian wool and encourages conscious purchasing decisions.

“Australian wool has a great story to tell. As global consumers become more concerned with the story behind a product - where, what and how it was made - the fibre’s natural, renewable and biodegradable properties are today more important than ever before. I applaud all retailers, brands, woolgrowers and consumers who have once again thrown their support behind our annual campaign and are ultimately increasing demand for this luxury fibre.”

Contact: 
Marius Cuming
Australian Wool Innovation, Corporate Communications 
Email: marius.cuming@wool.com
Mobile: 0400 305 716