The Woolmark Company has announced the four winners and 12 innovative finalist concepts for the 2021 Woolmark Performance Challenge, an idea platform for the sports and performance market.
This year, for the first time, the Woolmark Performance Challenge partnered with two brands: Swiss company On Running and Italian company Salewa. On challenged participating students to develop apparel innovations that meet the highest performance demands of modern outdoor runners while maximizing fashionable comfort. Salewa challenged participants to develop innovative, eco-friendly fabric technologies to create thermoregulating apparel for mountain activities. Both companies offered internships for two of the four challenge winners.
From more than 400 entries from around the world, the 12 most promising ideas were selected as finalists before judges chose winners in four categories.
The winners of this year’s competition were Caroline Schinle from Germany for her Milkweed Sustainable Filling (she receives an internship with On), Dan Winegar from the U.S. for his Intelligent Smocking Skiwear (internship with Salewa), Francesco Matera from Italy for his Second Skin Support Garment (he wins a research grant) and Harleen Kaur from India for Running for Two: Maternity (On research opportunity).
