Heralding its 4th year, The Campaign for Wool has announced an action packed Wool Week 2013 (14th - 20th October)

South West Farmer:

Wool Week is back with even more exciting ways to get involved in the campaign than ever before.  Now in its 4th year and with HRH The Prince of Wales the patron, the profile of wool and sheep is now at an all time high.

Previous years have seen Savile Row taken over by sheep, teams of super knitters take to national rail to break speed knitting records, the global launch of Wool Modern -a fashion and interiors fusion exhibition, in 2012, the launch of Wool School - the campaign's first fashion based educational initiative and in March this year the largest ever wool show case - Wool House, which focused on interiors and lifestyle design and was held in Somerset House.

Growing in participants and momentum, 2013 sees The Campaign for Wool take over the UK during Wool Week, with a variety of exciting events and inspiring initiatives with the aim of highlighting wool as a natural, renewable and biodegradable
fibre.

Wool School

Following a successful first year the initiative welcomes Margaret Howell, Topman, Christopher Raeburn, Folk, Barbour, Brora and Albam to the roster of top UK fashion labels aligned with UK universities. For a second year running the project has seen students introduced to a retail partner and given the opportunity to design a wool jumper for their company keeping this year’s theme ‘knitwear traditions of the British Isles’ front of mind. The campaign received 1000s of entries, one student per retailer has been selected and 15 jumper designs have been developed, manufactured and will be available in stores to coincide with UK Wool Week: 14th-20th October 2013.

5% of WOOL SCHOOL jumper sales will go back into fashion education programmes across the UK.

Knit Nation

This year Wool Week celebrates haberdashery and encourages the nation to pick up knitting needles. An exciting partnership with John Lewis will see a week-long agenda of fashion forward knitting and wool craft classes hosted by some of the UK’s finest knitwear specialists at both Edinburgh and London stores. John Lewis’ partners such as Erika Knight, Rowan, Arne &
Carlos and Milamia will create bespoke patterns and demonstrate techniques for all skill levels, showcasing knitting in its most contemporary form.  John Lewis’ Oxford Street window will come to life as live knitters knit their way around a plain white room setting. The installation will develop over the course of Wool Week, emerging as a flurry of colourful knit patterns.
Drop by throughout the week to see the best in industry sharing their woolly knowledge, all skill levels welcome.

Picknit

Craft, knitting and crochet rules supreme with the launch of Picknit; the knitting party that friends, strangers and customers can participate in by hosting their own PicKnit at home, school, in a shop, café, on a beach or anywhere at all.  Knitters can download a stunning brightly coloured blanket pattern and two matching cushions along with template invitations from www.thecampaignforwool.org. Alternatively the PicKnit team will be hosting one-off events at different venues; simply bring a rug, picnic and needles join the family fun. Watch out for further information atwww.campaignforwool.org.uk.

Royal Academy of Arts of Arts

The Campaign for Wool will support the Royal Academy’s ‘AUSTRALIA’ exhibition, the largest collection of Australian Art ever seen outside Australia, running from 17th September to 8th December. The Campaign for Wool’s Australian Funding Partner,The Woolmark Company will focus on celebrating the role that wool has played in forming both the landscape and culture of
the nation. To close Wool Week a flock of Aussie/English Bowmont Merino sheep will make a special appearance in the courtyard of the Royal Academy on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th October as part of the RA’s family learning programme where kids of all ages will be encouraged to meet the sheep and learn about the wool fibre – full details can be found on the Royal Academy’s website www.royalacademy.org.uk.

Victoria Quarter, Leeds, Wool Exhibition

To celebrate Wool Week, Leeds College of Art have collaborated with SIL Holdings to create stunning wool installations to be housed in the Victoria Quarter buildings. The installations will be free to view and make up part of a competition, winning students will be awarded work placements with SIL Holdings Limited fabrics. Harvey Nichols will be showcasing one of the winning designs in a window throughout the duration of Wool Week.

Wool Interiors Launch OneWool

This year sees the launch of OneWool in both the UK and USA. Top retailers, manufacturers and consumers will unite to choose one wool product to highlight and so create a huge celebration of the best wool interior items across the industry.  Products ranging from carpets and rugs to fabrics and furnishing items will be promoted and recognised during Wool Week with the OneWool social media and in-store activity.

Wool Interior Design Competition

Continuing the success of Wool House, the Campaign will launch a wool room design competition in association with Homes & Gardens and endorsed by leading industry associations including KLC School of Design. The competition will have three different entry levels including professional, student and amateur to encourage the use of wool textiles within the home.  The three winning entries are to be photographed for a Home & Garden feature in April 2013 and displayed at a future design event.  Winners will receive a bespoke design rug by Brintons.

CFW Global Reach

Since launch The Campaign for Wool has grown exponentially both domestically and overseas.

The Campaign for Wool

Spain is now in its third year, Wool Week launches in Italy this September, the Wool School student design initiative has been replicated in China and Germany and Korea, Japan and the Netherlands are running a series of live events throughout October and November.  The Campaign is now active in USA under the green sheep branding and will see the OneWool promotion launched throughout October this year.

Caring consumers have began asking questions about provenance and sustainability, with the guidance of HRH The Prince of Wales, The Campaign for Wool is taking the answers to a global audience, communicating wool as a natural, biodegradable and renewable fibre.
For more information about the Campaign for Wool visit: www.campaignforwool.org/for press materials, images or samples please contact Amy Wild at +44 (0)207 845 7800 or amyw@thisismission.com.

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