Woolmark is set to host an insight-filled panel during the upcoming 2024 edition of the Matrial Matters fair on London’s Southbank. The panel will delve into wool’s potential to support a more sustainable future, exploring its role in reducing reliance on synthetic materials.  Experts will discuss wool as a circular and regenerative fibre, its unique position at the crossroads of heritage and technology, and how in the quest for new biomaterials we may be overlooking one of nature’s most remarkable innovations. 

The panel consists of:

- Amanda McLaren, Hainsworth

- Lesley Prior, Wool grower

- Borre Akkersdijk, BYBORRE

- Chair: Dalena White, IWTO and Make The Label Count

Event details

12.00pm, Friday 20 September

Material Matters Fair

Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf, London SE1 9PH

Speakers

Lesley Prior is a commercial wool grower of Superfine Merino, using modern Australian genetics, under the brand name Tellenby. Lesley works full time with the sheep on the farm in Devon but has regular help from other family members. She is a council member of The Campaign For Wool, a Member of Australian Superfine Wool Growers Association and the Australian Association of Stud Merino Breeders. She has spoken at many wool industry events in Australia and Europe and regularly visits Australia to look for new genetics.

Borre Akkersdijk is a textile expert with over 17 years of experience in textile innovation, design and impact. He is the founder of BYBORRE, a textile design company started in 2015. The company has worked with global industry leaders in fashion, sportswear, interior and automotive brands to create consciously bespoke textiles. BYBORRE Create, the digital design tool, is the next step in BYBORRE's ambition to become the world's leading authority on responsible knitted textile, operating as the portal between the physical and digital world within the textile industry by democratising the design and production process.

Amanda McLaren is the managing director of AW Hainsworth, a 240 year old textile manufacturing business, based in Pudsey, near Leeds, where she is charged with leading the business through a new era of growth.  Backed by family shareholder investment, Amanda was appointed in April 2021, to establish and implement a long-term sustainability strategy, which would ensure it would continue to thrive, for many generations to come. Amanda has spent over 35 years working across UK manufacturing – gaining experience in mechanical engineering, electronics, automotive, leisure and textile sectors.

Dalena White has more than 20 years experience in clothing design, textile manufacturing, merchandising and product sourcing for fashion retail. She served as a board member of a clothing factory for six years, before joining the wool industry in 2008. She managed brand developments for South African Merino wool products, including styling, wool textile innovation and marketing projects with retail partners. Dalena was appointed as the secretary general of the International Wool Textile Organisation, based in Brussels, Belgium, in June 2016.

Material Matters

Material Matters returns in 2024. Based on the critically acclaimed podcast of the same name, the fair brings together over 50 world-leading brands, designers, makers, manufacturers and organisations to celebrate the importance of materials and their ability to shape society.

Taking place once again at the iconic Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf on London’s Southbank, the fair includes five floors of products, site-specific installations, a marketplace, a learning area and an extensive talks programme, providing a platform for engagement, collaboration and inspiration for the design and architecture industries.

Material Matters investigates how the design industry can address issues around the circular economy and why material intelligence is so important to all our lives.

www.thewoolmarkcompany.com