Saturday, December 29, 2018

Third Edition of The Woolmark Company’s Wool Runway Witnesses Stellar Design Innovation



Mumbai, December 24, 2018: Nishant Raj from NID, Ahmedabad was announced the winner of the third edition of Wool Runway – a fashion design competition celebrating the best emerging talent from design campuses across India. Second and third place were Anam Husain from NIFT,Delhi and Franziska Knitsch from Pearl Academy, Rajouri respectively with the awards presented by Mr. Tony Huber, Consul General, The Consulate General Australia and Mr. Dilip Gianchandani, Country Manager, The Woolmark Company, India at a special event held in Mumbai.

An initiative by The Woolmark Company, Wool Runway invites tertiary students to design an outfit, made from the premium fibre Merino wool. Following the success of the previous two years awards, Wool Runway 2018 brought together students from 18 leading design campuses that included National Institute of Fashion Technology (Mumbai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Shillong, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Patna, Bhubaneshwar, Kannur, Kangra and Kolkata campuses ), National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar campuses) and Pearl Academy (Mumbai, Delhi- Noida, Rajouri Garden and Jaipur campuses).

A first of its kind competition, Wool Runway aims to not only raise awareness, but also educate the next generation of wool consumers and inspire emerging fashion designers to work with Merino wool.

This year had extraordinary participation from more than 195 students, with 15 making it to the final round selected by mentor Gautam Vazirani (IMG Reliance) and the respective student teacher consultants from each institute. The panel of industry experts included Mr. Kishor Bhatia, Director- Product, Raymond Fine Fabrics; Ms. Rina Singh, Fashion Designer; Ms. Priyanka Kapadia, Senior Fashion Editor, Vogue India; Mr. Partha Sinha, Creative Head, Louis Philippe and Luxor; Ms. Deepshika Khanna, Creative Head, Goodearth; and Mr. Rajat Bhattacharya, International Trainer in Luxury & Retail judged the final designs by the students. A once in a lifetime opportunity, the 15 finalists received personalised feedback from the judges along expert industry insights.

The final designs were displayed as live installations, giving the audience a first-hand look at the versatility of Merino wool. The students drew inspiration from various elements and topics close to their heart such as the blooming magnolia flower, Mumbai’s dhobi ghat and sustainable fashion to name a few.

The top three students were awarded prize money amounting to INR 1,20,000, INR 85,000 and INR 60,000 respectively. The winner will also be given the opportunity of a portfolio shoot of the winning garment by Vogue.

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