Now in its third year, The Campaign for Wool, of which HRH Prince of Wales is a patron, is being celebrated on an unprecedented global scale with more countries than ever before creating their own programme of activity to celebrate ‘Wool Week’ around the world – and knitting will play an important role.

“Since its inception The Campaign for Wool has captured the imagination of both the fashion and design industries, and the public. With the support of his Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, it has been instrumental in driving a new demand for wool, the world’s favoured sustainable and versatile fibre, and I’m delighted to see its continued growth in 2012 and beyond” says Peter Ackroyd, Executive of The Campaign for Wool.

The programme of events is as follows:

15th – 21st October / UK

An action-packed week of woolly celebrations kick off with the unveiling of the world’s largest ball of wool, using fleece donated by Australian, New Zealand and UK farmers, wrapped around one of London’s landmark department stores, Harvey Nichols. 

Budding knitwear designers

Watch The Campaign for Wool elevate budding knitwear designers into stores throughout the country.  Wool School brings an educational twist to the campaign as top UK retailers are paired with the UK’s top fashion universities resulting in 12 winning wool jumper designs sold nationwide from October 15th.  Participating retailers include John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Hobbs, Topshop, Pringle, Paul Smith, and Hackett.

A journey of heritage commenced from Liverpool docks on August 15th as the historic, and newly refurbished, Kennet barge was loaded with wool bales from each commonwealth country supporting Campaign for Wool - UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Winding its way to Saltaire, a world heritage site and the traditional home of the UK weaving industry, once unloaded the bales will be carded, spun and woven to create a Commonwealth tweed.

The Chelsea Harbour Design Centre will again house a bespoke wool interiors installation. Members of the public will be invited to experience the most dynamic wool interiors collection on show, whilst retail partners and innovators will gather to brief key media about 2013’s unveiling of Wool House, the first window to wall wool concept house.

Long distance knit-off

Love Wool, the artisan stand of Campaign for Wool, takes to the tracks as 25 super knitters including students, designers, crafters and media are challenged with a long distance knit-off. Teams must work speedily stitch a record breaking Union Jack Flag in the time it takes for the train to travel from London to Edinburgh and back (a round trip over 800miles).

24th – 27th September / USA

The Campaign for Wool will head to New York for the launch of its American interiors programme and host WOOL UNCOVERED – a wool installation in Bryant Park – right in the centre of Manhattan.

Designed as an interactive wool feature for the general public, it is perfectly positioned to bring a truly rural wool moment to urban New York.

A flock of thirty sheep will be brought in from upstate New York to graze on the spacious lawns of the Park which is surrounded by some of the tallest buildings in the city and sits directly behind the magnificent New York Public Library.

A full programme of fun and educational activities will take place in the park to celebrate wool.

This activity is organised and managed by our colleagues, the British Wool Marketing Board on behalf of Campaign for Wool.

1st – 6th October / France

Launched for the first time in France, on the initiative of the Federation Department of wool and cotton (FFILC), the week of the wool Industries will be held in the 16th arrondissement of Paris in partnership with the Shopping Centre Passy Plaza.

Ultimate wool scarf

Kick-started with an irresistible call to action for all French knitters and crafters who are invited to design “the ultimate wool scarf,” The Campaign for Wool is focused on engaging a new audience through social media channels.

8th – 11th October / Norway

Norwegian wool

A wool pop-up shop in Oslo’s Paleet shopping arcade, followed by a “White Gold” exhibit at the Industrial Arts Museum highlighting findings from the ‘Valuing Norwegian Wool’ project, activities for design students and seminars galore are just some of the Wool Week activities in Norway.

The Norwegian Fashion Institute, Norilia, NICE Fashion and the Institute for Consumer Research – along with spinners and wool brands – have joined forces to highlight the unique local use of wool, and the week will be rounded off with an open meeting on wool’s role in culture and industry in the Norwegian Parliament.

8th – 21st October / Korea

Launching at the British embassy in Seoul, the inaugural Korean Wool Week will be celebrated with a salon show and exhibition presenting the best of Korean and International brands under the banner ‘Wool Tweed’.

Campaign for Wool is also supported by Lotte, the leading Seoul department store with a VIP event and charity auction, and window campaign.

17th – 23rd October / Japan

Campaign for Wool has joined forces with Ginza Fashion Week to celebrate the best of wool fashion with two leading department stores – Matsuya and Mitsukoshi.  Both stores will be showcasing wool in their windows and display areas throughout Ginza Fashion Week.

The annual Kobe Tweed Walk & Ride will also be supporting Campaign for Wool with a display of tweedy stylings and tea party for the participants and their friends.

22nd - 29th October / China

Wool Modern, the outstanding exhibition which launched in the UK in 2011, opens on October 22nd in Bund 18, Shanghai’s celebrated art and design centre. Eight new Chinese designers have been selected to participate in the exhibition including Qui Hao (winner of the 2008 Woolmark prize), Vega Wang and Ma Ke Wuyang. The show will be opened by international entrepreneur, Sir David Tang KBE and supported editorially by Chinese style title, Vision magazine that will be both previewing the event in September and dedicating the October issue to Wool Modern with an incredible 20 page feature.

Once Wool Modern closes on October 29, Shanghai’s luxury department store SOGO will extend the Wool Week celebrations with an installation of selected pieces from the exhibition until November 6.

5th – 9th November / Netherlands

An action-packed week of activity will celebrate Campaign for Wool, with everything from street based guerrilla stunts to a dazzling launch event in Amsterdam featuring over 20 wool outfits designed especially for The Campaign for Wool by established designers as well as alumni, one from each fashion and design university in the Netherlands.

The globally renowned fashion, product and interior designers from the region have truly embraced Campaign for Wool and, with the added support of some exciting new retailers the campaign is set to reach a wider audience than ever before.

6th – 9th November / Germany

After a great start last year with the launch of the Wool Modern in Berlin, Wool School will be the primary focus for the German market to celebrate Campaign for Wool in 2012. A series of strategic partnerships encompassing all elements of the retail landscape, from high end boutiques such as Horst Wanschura to more widely available brands such as Marc Cain, has been established, thereby demonstrating the versatility and potential of wool for all consumers. The following universities and brands will be collaborating, with winning designs being showcased in participating partner’s stores:

• HS Niederrhein & Marc Cain
• Staatliche Modeschule Stuttgart & Horst Wanschura
• Design Department Dusseldorf & Heimat Cologne
• FH Hannover & Wormland
• FH Bielefeld & Brooks

14th - 22nd November / Spain

For the first time Wool Week activities are planned for both Barcelona and Madrid.

Knitting lounge

14th – 18th November, Madrid Spain - On Calle Serrano (Madrid’s main shopping street ) Amigurumi yarn bombing installations will entrance shoppers. A special knitting lounge will host a stunning exhibition about wool and knitting with wool workshops  organised  for bloggers and craft fans. A wool fashion parade by designers will be followed the next day by a retail fashion parade, and throughout the area stores will be enticing shoppers in with artistic wool installations and more woolly photographic exhibitions.

21st – 22nd November, Barcelona Spain - For the first time the Campaign will come to Barcelona with the knitted artworks from Madrid being installed on the iconic Rumbla Catalunya. An official VIP launch will be held, with a collection of beautiful ‘little wool dresses’ designed by Barcelona students on display. Spanish retail partners supporting the campaign with windows and POS packages include Inditex (Zara, Massimo Dutti) and El Corte Inglés – an exciting development given the global reach of these brands.

 “It is encouraging to see the growing number of wool products available in the market place, The Campaign for Wool and Wool Week celebrations around the world give people the chance to interact and learn about the advanced, comforting, wonderful natural fibre wool is,” Stuart McCullough, AWI CEO comments.

The Campaign for Wool was launched in 2010 to educate consumers about the benefits of wool and promote wool-predominant products to a national audience to help support and grow the wool industry. Run by a coalition of industry groups convened by HRH The Prince of Wales, the campaign works to engage consumers through exciting fashion, interiors, artisan and design lead activities centring around Wool Week each year.

www.campaignforwool.org