The Woolmark Company, owned by Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), is to present its new 'Innovation Toolkit' at this month's ITMA in Barcelona.

It comprises 30 innovative knitted and woven fabrics made from Merino wool and aims to provide valuable knowledge to key industry attendees from Technical Directors to Production Managers who are responsible for producing product for the world's leading retailers and designers.

The stand will be staffed by wool specialists from Australia, Turkey, China, Japan, Italy, Spain and Hong Kong, ready to answer questions about all aspects of Merino wool.

Some of the innovations to be presented this year will include the latest worsted spun techniques such as the sculptured Merino. The sculptured effect can be created by permitting a garment to cockle in the most severe and complete way.

A combination of wider than normal range of fibre diameters in the blend, yarn setting, loose knit density and overloaded wet finishing machines create consistent cockling and the result is an interesting and modern effect to update the classic knitted structure.

Roy Kettlewell, The Woolmark Company's Global Knitwear Product Development Officer explained, "ITMA will be an integral element to our trade communications strategy, allowing us contact with a very important segment of the apparel industry that we don't generally speak with as we take the Woolmark innovations out to the market."

At the same time the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) will partner with ITMA for the first time this year, highlighting the important role of wool and natural fibres in the modern market. This extension represents a logical step forward as visitors to the exhibition are also potential buyers of such raw materials.

Mr Peter Ackroyd, President of IWTO said, "We believe there are outstanding synergies between IWTO and ITMA as we share many objectives. Our industry constantly strives to produce natural, renewable and environmentally-friendly products while ITMA remains the world's most established textile technology show in these challenging times.

As such, one of the collaboration opportunities being explored is a natural fibre pavilion, including a prominent wool section, at ITMA for our members to showcase their innovative products."

Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) is a not-for-profit company which invests in research, development and marketing along the global supply chain for Australian wool - from woolgrowers through to retailers. The goal of AWI is to increase the demand for wool. Established in 2001, AWI is funded primarily by Australian woolgrowers and the Australian Government.

In 2007 AWI acquired the Woolmark business and brands. The Woolmark logo is one of the most recognised textile symbols in the world and a product bearing the logo indicates that it has been independently tested as a high quality woollen product with guaranteed fibre content. The logo on a product provides consumers with an assurance of quality.