Press Releases

Press Release 13 February 2020

The Woolmark Company unveils ‘The Wool Lab Vision Spring/Summer 2021’

The fashion industry is always on the lookout for innovation and though a lot of work is being done in this area by various trend agencies, The Woolmark Company has created an invincible niche with The Wool Lab, an innovative seasonal guide to the best wool fabrics and yarns in the world. The Wool Lab brings together the company’s global supply chain network to showcase real samples of commercially available fabrics aligned to the season’s macro-themes.
Each season, The Woolmark Company reaches out to hundreds of spinners and weavers in Italy, France, the UK, China, Japan, India and various other countries, to source their latest fabric developments. With this, their team of experts’ curate a seasonal sourcing guide with a selection of the best textile and yarn swatches, which can then be ordered directly from suppliers through The Wool Lab.
In response to designer and brand needs, The Wool Lab is now divided into product categories to facilitate and better address the research of fabrics and yarns, and to provide a more focused and direct approach to the sourcing of materials and product innovation. The Woolmark Company creates The Wool Lab twice per year, with one edition dedicated to Spring/Summer and the other to Autumn/Winter. In response to global trends and consumer demand, two additional editions of The Wool Lab have been created: The Wool Lab Sport and The Wool Lab Denim.
What initially started as an inspirational guide divided in macro-trends, The Wool Lab has now evolved to become a functional and experiential guide, with a focus on innovations, allowing designers and brands to find the perfect wool fabric or yarn and be connected directly with the supplier, encouraging global networking between brands and manufacturers. Till date, more than 71,200 swatch requests have been made via The Wool Lab app across 74 countries.
Stuart McCullough
The Chief Executive Officer
Woolmark Company
“Each edition of The Wool Lab is created in collaboration with the world’s most innovative and quality-oriented spinners and weavers to present an inspirational sourcing guide available for designers and brands to view,”
A new digital component has also been introduced to the display of The Wool Lab at trade fairs. Using the devices provided at the booth, visitors scan the QR code of a swatch and immediately receive an email with requested details and contact information of the manufacturer.
Powerful Kit – Features of The Wool Lab Kit
  • The Forecasting and Compilation of latest upcoming trend is done by Ricardo Rami Studio, Italy. Their processing and transformation system that goes from the forecast to the product is based on over 30 years of experience in the design sector.
  • Sourcing Platform for designers and brands. Hundreds of swatches every season are collected by The Woolmark Company as per forecast and get featured in the kit.
  • Promotion platform for manufacturers and suppliers who make merino wool yarns/fabrics/innovations.
  • Commercially available fabrics in the kit. All the fabrics that are featured in the kit have a unique code which stores their information regarding supplier and specifications. Designers and brands who want to source these fabrics can be introduced to suppliers upon request. Digital app supports the selection of swatches which makes it easy to connect both the dots.
  • Digital trend library as well as physical samples in theme-based folders to be touched and felt.
The Wool Lab is presented globally during the most important trade shows including: Best Knit (Japan), Intertextile (China), ISPO (Germany), Pitti Filati (Italy), Pitti Uomo (Italy), Première Vision (France), Outdoor Retailer (USA) and SPINEXPO (China). It is also presented at individual meetings to inspire and inform designers, manufacturers, retailers, fashion and apparel brands and fashion industry professionals.
Launching this Spring/Summer ’21, The Wool Lab will include ‘The Wool Lab Vision’, which will act as a representation of wool products and process developments and innovations that The Woolmark Company is currently undertaking. The Vision will provide a visually impressive but informative view of these developments, including prototype fabrics and associated technical details.
This year, the Indian industry will get an opportunity to see the work of ‘The Wool Lab Vision’ at ASW 2020 where findings for Spring/Summer 2021 will be discussed at a workshop by The Woolmark Company. This season, The Vision will focus on two important development areas:
  1. Themed ‘The Wool and The Water’ – highlighting fabrics and garments associated with water, for example, sailing, outdoor water repellency.
  2. Themed ‘Woolbeing’- highlighting processes, fabrications and garments suitable for yoga and well-being.
The forecast themes to look forward to are: Craft, The Daring Suit, Urban Hiking and Arcade.

About Apparel Sourcing Week 2023

Apparel Sourcing Week 2023, a two-days Sourcing Show not only provides the Asian manufacturers a platform to showcase their products & manufacturing capabilities to the Brands & Retailers from all over the world including India, but also extends them a chance to attend the multiple seminars (headed by industry experts), workshops, open-house discussions and networking opportunities organised during these three days, which would help the manufacturers get a better understanding of Indian and International Retail and evolving dynamics of sourcing in various markets and retail formats.

About the Organiser

Apparel Resources is well known for its benchmark publications – Apparel Online, StitchWorld and Resource Guide published from India, Bangladesh & Vietnam. These publications have been around in the industry for over 35 years, supporting, guiding and standing by garment exporters and the retail industry globally, providing them a platform to source better.