The Woolmark Company announces winners of 2021 Performance Challenge

The Woolmark Company, together with Swiss sportswear brand On and Italian skiwear company Salewa, has revealed its prize winners and 12 finalists’ concepts for its Woolmark Performance Challenge 2021.

On challenged participants to dive into apparel innovations for outdoor runners, while Salewa asked entrants to explore low environmental-impact fabric technologies to create thermo-regulating apparel.

The incubation programme itself selected its winners from more than 400 international applications, with 12 finalists chosen to present their projects to the judges.

Each of the finalists received mentoring from industry experts upon the selection process and as part of the programme, designed to further their concepts and improve their design thinking.

For On, German student Caroline Schinle was awarded an internship with the brand for her sustainable filling technology for padded jackets. Additionally, the brand also introduced a new Research Opportunity award for India-based Harleen Kaur, for her project that addressed the needs of pregnant and postpartum runners.

Salewa’s internship winner was US student Dan Winegar for his innovation on automatically adjusting insulation, which allowed fabrics to switch between insulating and cooling depending on the activity.

Finally, IED Milano student Francesco Matera was the recipient of the Woolmark Research Bursary of 10,000 euros. Matera presented a garment that acted like a second skin, adapting to the body as it moves through support and manipulation.

Registrations for the programme’s next edition, which is in partnership with French sports equipment company Saloman, is now open to college students internationally.