Wool School 2012 – knitted wool couture >Campaign for wool<
"Campaign for Wool" at the Fashion Week in Berlin 17.01.2013
Marc Cain at the Fashion Week Berlin, in the Hotel de Rome, 17.01.2013, Coat by Master student Caroline Liehr of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, Faculty Textile and Clothing Technology
Maia Kesseler and Caroline Liehr win a three months internship as a team at the Marc Cain GmbH in Bodelshausen. 06.11.2012
Within the Wool School Project of the Campaign for Wool eleven Master students of the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in Mönchengladbach created wonderful outfits in white wool under the topic of sustainable virgin wool, supervised by Prof. Ellen Bendt – Professor for Fashion Design with emphasis on knitted and innovative product design - and by Prof. Dr. Marina-Elena Wachs – Professor for Design Theory.
Equipped with fine wool materials from co-operation partners of the Woolmark Company, as for example Südwolle, Schoeller, Baur Vliesstoffe, Baruffa and Botto Giuseppe, the students developed outfits out of which the best ones were manufactured at the internationally known fashion brand Marc Cain in Bodelshausen and which were finally awarded last Tuesday, 06.11.2012 by an internationally operating jury.
Six "Fairytale Stitch Models" are now exhibited in the windows of the Marc Cain Stores in Düsseldorf during the international Wool-Week until 19.11.2012.
The eleven Master students (see picture with Prof. Dr. Wachs, Head Designer of Marc Cain Karin Veit, Prof. Bendt) designed different outfits of yarns, wool non-wovens and crest traces, a pre-product of the yarn, to the topic "Knitted Wool Couture" in the textile technical centres of the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology in Mönchengladbach. The designs have been created from the fibre to the textile fabric which have been associated to the key terms matching the sub-topics "white variations" and "knitted wool couture". The topics of the winning team of Caroline Liehr and Maia Kesseler were "light and shadow" and "crazy sexy wool" (see picture). They developed the patterns, surfaces and structures in manual work and at the knitting machines of the university, afterwards they could realise them in design in Bodelshausen with master craftsmen in knitting and finished them at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in Mönchengladbach.
The competition primarily addressed students of the Master Degree Programme Textile Produkte because for the product development the students required competences of the areas of textile design and fashion design. While the textile design focuses on the development of textile fabrics the fashion designers are responsible for the outfit. The students also explored the material under the aspect of innovation, tested it on our machines, created finishings and experimented manually as well as refined the silhouettes of the outfits, also in terms of pattern makings.
Nationwide five universities of applied sciences participate at the contest. "Due to the excellent equipment of our laboratories and technical centres we are the only university of applied sciences that can work with different materials and show the total process of knitting competences" explained Prof. Ellen Bendt and Prof. Dr. Marina Wachs during the co-operation. The other participating universities of applied sciences primarily work with wool fabrics only.
Six designs have been selected during the first jury session in Bodelshausen which have been professionally produced with computer operated flat knitting machines and refined manually in Bodelshausen afterwards, under participation of the four selected students who made it to the finale of the contest.
The top-class jury which came together to the final winner decision during a big press event in the new show room of the Marc Cain GmbH in Düsseldorf on the 6th of November 2012 consisted of: Dr. Dorothee Achenbach, art historian and free journalist, Marliese Klathoff, head editor of the TextilWirtschaft, Stefan Asbrand-Eickhoff, Eickhoff Königsallee, Kara Hurry, Marketing Manager at Western Hemisphere Woolmark as well as John Thorley, Chairman of the Campaign for Wool LtD. from London.
You can see the outfits during the Wool-Week in the window of the store of the Marc Cain GmbH in Düsseldorf Königsallee 21-23 (Entrance Trinkausstraße) from the 6th until the 19th November 2012.
The „Campaign for Wool" is an international industry comprehensive initiative which has been initiated in January 2010 by The Woolmark International, British Wool Marketing Board, International Wool Textile Organisation and New Zealand woolgrowers. The project focuses on virgin wool which is produced from the fur of living sheep and which is very environmental friendly due to its re-growing raw material. Simultaneously further events take place in Germany and Europe within the scope of this initiative which focuses on wool.
The project „Wool School – Campaign for Wool" supervised by H.R.H. Charles Prince of Wales aims at examining, also in public, the environmental compatibility and the meaning of virgin wool in the textile production.
We would kindly like to say Thank You to our co-operation partners Woolmark Company and Marc Cain GmbH. The socialist Richard Sennett found a great term which describes our passionate co-operation: >Togetherness<.
It was this >togetherness<, which helped everyone of the project to grow and which led to such wonderful wool designs of white wool for the topic >Knitted wool Couture<.
Good things will last: knitted the wool future!
Prof. E. Bendt and Prof. Dr. M.-E. Wachs,
November 2012
