Leading yarn show Pitti Filati has announced the three winners of its Feel the Yarn contest. The social voting officially ended on 3 September at 6:00pm, when the winners of the 2020 edition of the contest organized at the initiative of the consortium Consorzio Promozione Filati – CPF and of Pitti Immagine Filati were announced.

“In addition to the two designers the Facebook community selected, a third one was selected by a special commission. This event, which was attended by 22 schools, 34 students and by just as many companies of the yarn industry, proved itself as a breeding ground to find new talents and to start a virtuous circle between future stylists and Italian spinning mills,” Pitti reports.

The community of the Facebook group Feel the Yarn – The Contest, consisting of students, experts, influencers, companies and yarn lovers, declared the two winners of the 11th edition of the contest which, since 2010, has been putting young designers from the best international fashion schools into contact with companies of the yarn industry, thus creating opportunities of professional growth and business development.

“More than 5500 followers of the social media channel, which was launched in early June for this purpose, voted for the projects developed by Sara Zanetti, from Polimoda in Florence, and Sara Kickmayer from Institut Français de la Mode in Paris, thanks to a survey started within this group; therefore, the two talents had the chance to win just as many scholarships, whose value is equal to 5, 000 euros each, to continue to study at the schools they attend,” the organisation said.

“The awards the community granted – Ornella Bignami, who has been following and supervising the project for 11 years, explains – have an actual worth, from the mere technical perspective too. Specifically, the creation by Sara Zanetti is worthy for her research of details, the combination between crochet works and macro inserts on knitwear which underline the full and comfortable volume of the item. Her proposal is a clear-cut example of creativity and craft skill combined with a brilliant feeling for colours.  As for Sara Kickmayer’s creation, instead, the persuasive factor was especially her new interpretation of the theme of the Contest, Move Beyond. Her item moves dynamically, beyond the body, using advanced manufacturing techniques to follow the circular shape of knitting”.

In addition, Maddalena Gentile was granted with a third partial scholarship, whose value is equal to 5000 euros, to attend the Master in Creative Knitwear Design course. “Organizers selected this young creative talent because she showed a deep understanding of the intrinsic value of yarn and knitwear which is expressed by a set of techniques and points consistent with the silhouette and the presented theme,” Pitti explained.

 “At the beginning it was difficult to keep in touch with the students who came back home because of the lockdown,” Ornella Bignami continues. “But we brilliantly overcame it thanks to the commitment of all the involved individuals and companies. On the contrary, difficulties encouraged dialogue and sharing of ideas, proposals, solutions, thus expressing an all-round creativity which made the contest be even more dynamic and interesting.”

Federico Gualtieri, Chairman of the consortium Consorzio Promozione Filati – CPF, also confirmed the success of this initiative and the positive feedbacks from all the participants: “We are very pleased of the results achieved during this edition, it was a challenge for us, too. We decided not to cancel the contest because of the limits due to Covid-19, but we decided to continue focusing on an alternative strategy able to give the greatest and the best visibility to the students’ projects and we were rewarded. The followers of the group created on Facebook exceeded our expectations, as well as their participation expressed by their likes and their daily interactions. The participants to the Contest were also very proactive and they established a real creative space to share products, interests, thoughts, hints. This is exactly why we decided to keep this channel open to encourage the launch of other projects. Therefore, it was a successful idea to use a social media channel as an instrument for a three-way relationship, students-schools-companies, and it paved the way to new pathways able to engender interest and participation.”

Feel the Yarn – The Contest, not only highlights the skills of designers in the knitwear industry and offers them a chance to measure themselves against the companies, but it also represents a plus for the companies, too, Pitti adds.

“This edition, whose leitmotiv was ‘creating value’, fully expressed the essence of all the initiatives CPF offers its members who are interested in looking ahead to the future, looking beyond geographical borders, and investing on resources that grow in-house. A company’s future starts from the blend between tradition and innovation, between craftmanship and new technologies, between fathers’ visions and sons’ projections. All these values are exalted precisely within the Contest.” Mr. Gualtieri concludes. 

www.pittimmagine.com