The 2022 International Woolmark Prize winners were announced today at a special event in London. An expert jury, consisting of Ben Gorham, Carine Rotifeld, Edward Enninful OBE, and Naomi Campbell among others selected the winners. This year’s event celebrate the art of play, and took inspiration from Isamu Noguchi for its theme. The International Woolmark Prize partnered with the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum to showcase the seven finalists’ collections. Each collection featured six looks made from Merino wool. The finalists’ experimented with textiles, design, and responsible business practices to help create change from a cleaner, and brighter future. 

For the 2022, Saul Nash received the AU$200,000 award. Nash used Merino wool in a modern way, and allowed active solutions to meet formal requirements. Riccardo Tisci, a judge from the event, said “Everyone did a great job and could have been a winner. But what Saul did, coming from a ballet background to replace lycra with wool was really incredible.” Nash’s collection explored the possibilities of using wool in activewear. Focusing on minimizing waste, and emphasizing movement and performance, Nash’s new wool activewear changes the idea of what sportswear can be. 

For the Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation, design duo MMUSOMAXWELL’s collection took the AU$100,000 prize. By using local raw materials from their home country of South Africa, MMUSOMAXWELL promotes slow and small batch production for their collection. Using local artisans to work against over-consumption, the collection is easily traceable. 

Finally, Netherlands-based company Knitwear Lab won the Supply Chain Award. Knitwear Lab uses research and knowledge to think of innovative and design driven solutions for knitwear. The company received recognition for giving access to technology and R&D flat-bed knitting to brands in need. Their standout developments include innovative 100% Merino wool fabrics made with Nash, and its further relationship development with finalist Ahluwalia. 

Although the competition is now over, all finalists will continue their International Woolmark Prize journey by joining the competition’s notable alumni, and have the opportunity to collaborate on retail opportunities with the competition’s Retail Partner Network.