Hyokyoung Lee from Institut Français de la Mode, France and Hope
Kemp-Hanson from Savannah College of Art and Design in America, were
announced as the winners of the 2019 Adidas x Woolmark Performance
Challenge.
The annual competition challenges young designers to develop innovative,
forward-thinking product solutions for the sports and performance market,
by harnessing the unique natural properties of Australian Merino wool.
The winners were announced during a special event in Munich, Germany,
and saw Hope Kemp-Hanson being awarded a three-month paid internship with
Adidas, while Hyokyoung Lee won 10,000 euros of prize money to further
develop her innovative and commercially viable idea of an energy-generating
Merino wool base-layer.
“At Adidas, we believe that through sport we have the power to change
lives,” said Tillman Studrucker, senior design director at Adidas, after
the event in a statement. “The concepts that we have seen from Hope and
Hyokyoung convinced us that most of all the great ideas possible to enable
people to experience the transformative power of sport by combining
innovation and style use the benefits of wool. I want to thank all of the
finalists as we have seen a lot of very strong concepts, and it was not an
easy decision.”
Commenting on her win, Lee, who designed an energy-generating Merino
wool base-layer to monitor an athlete’s body status, allowing transmission
of data and, if needed, an SOS, said: “Winning the Woolmark Performance
Challenge has made me realise that as a designer I can be part of
innovations that can be helpful for the world.
“The best part of participating in the challenge is that you can learn
about the most recent innovations in different fields – IT, science,
fashion and textiles – which allow you to experience the power of human
creativity and goodwill when people work together toward betterment of
humanity.”
Adidas and The Woolmark Company name Woolmark Challenge winners
While Kemp-Hanson, who turned to the South Korean skate movement for her
design, said: “It’s been such an amazing opportunity not just within
pushing the innovation and learning of wool, but becoming a part of this
group of people, an incredible, new design family. I feel so honoured,
humbled, and beyond appreciative to have been a part of this journey.”
More than 1060 students registered from more than 115 educational
institutions from 21 countries, making it the most diverse range of
applicants for the programme’s second edition. The ten finalists hailed
from design universities in France, Italy, and America, as well as two from
UK universities, Hannah Greenshield from Manchester Metropolitan University
and Rebecca Marsden from the Royal College of Art.
“Despite its long history in apparel, the unique natural properties of
Australian Merino wool positions it as a leading technical fibre in today’s
sports and outdoor industry,” added The Woolmark Company general manager,
processing innovation and education extension, Julie Davies. “We saw that
evidenced today with the incredible diversity of ideas presented by the
finalists of this year’s Woolmark Performance Challenge. We are really
encouraged by how the competition has grown over the past two years, which
affirms our commitment to education and the potential for product
developments with wool in new market areas.”
The award was judged by a panel of judges that included Edward
Crutchley, the International Woolmark Prize Menswear and Innovation winner,
as well as Jörg Hartmann, head of fashion and technology at Stoll, Peter
Bona, former professional snowboarder and head of design outerwear,
trousers, textile accessories at Hugo Boss Athleisure, and Julie Davies
general manager, processing innovation and education extension at The
Woolmark Company.
Image: courtesy of The Woolmark Company
