AWI gives protégés the golden fleece

Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace and Paul Smith are among a group of high-profile designers who have locked heads to save Australian wool from "extinction".

As part of ongoing efforts to re-introduce young consumers to quality merino products, Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) has teamed with five designers and more than eight textile experts to launch an international designer protégé program.
AWI Italy regional manager Fabrizio Servente said the program, devised during a roundtable meeting between AWI, Vogue Italia director Franca Sozzani and Italian manufacturers in January, aimed to put woollen fibres back on the fashion map.

"Young designers, young manufacturers and hence the young consumers are unaware of the amazing qualities of Merino wool as a fibre, because it has almost become extinct from their range of clothes."

"[We] understood that to influence the young consumers, the story of merino wool had to be told to them by their peers."
Five young protégés from across Europe are to be mentored by the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace, Paul Smith, Francisco Costa (Calvin Klein) as they each create a collection made exclusively from Australian merino wool.
Servente said top manufacturers of woollen yarns and fabrics, including Cerruti, Ermenegildo Zegna, Loro Piana, Reda, Vitale Barberis Canonico, Chiavazza and Zegna Baruffa, would also be on hand to assist the designers in creating their final ranges.

Servente said AWI's partnership with Vogue

Italia helped to create a high profile for the new program.
"This program is to think about the future generation and the future of Australian Merino Wool. The story also needs the backing of famous names to create a significant splash in the world of fashion textiles."

The young designers will unveil their collections during a gala at Pitti Uomo at Palazzo Corsini in Florence, Italy in January 2008.

By Assia Benmedjdoub