With a design mantra ‘finding perfection in imperfection’, New York-based Public School was named the winner of 2015's International Woolmark Prize, during an inaugural men's award ceremony that coincided with the schedule of London Collections: Men.In front of a star-studded judging panel - from design king, Paul Smith to editor-at-large for Style.com, Tim Banks - Public School wow-ed the globa fashion pack (which also included several retail partners), who collectively crowned the design duo as the official prize winners.Representing the USA in the final, Public School's merino wool collection boasted superior textile craftsmanship and showcased, both simply and elegantly, the natural characteristics and benefits of the sheep fiber. Public School designers, Dao-Yi Chow's and Maxwell Osborne were surprised when revealed as the winners. "It feels unbelievable to win the prize. We are the first US winners in the competition so we are really proud and it's incredibly meaningful to us," said the duo.British GQ Editor Dylan Jones, Paul Smith, Public School designers Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow alongside The Woolmark Company Managing Director Stuart McCullough. The judging panel said they selected the New York brand for their "skill with manufacturing and commerciality", when making their final announcement on the second day of LCM."Many items were fully fashioned, so for sportswear they could fit the shape of the body and could work for some of the major sportswear brands. They've already invested in production; the USA has a great focus on forward thinking beyond just designing it," said Paul Smith, on behalf of the committee.Meanwhile, Tim Blanks said it was Public School's mixing of "the traditional with the contemporary, creating an incredibly vibrant collection," that sealed the deal for the win, adding the brand's "competition entry was seriously impressive."Starting off as a global search, encompassing 60 designers over 21 countries, the first menswear competition for Woolmark gradually narrowed to five. In the end it was - Sise from Japan; Asger Juel Larsen from Denmark; Australia's Strateas.Carlucci and the Emperor 1688 from the UAE - that Public School beat out for the win.As well as being catapulted into the fashion spotlight, Public School received $100,000 in cash and will have their winning collection refined and then stocked in international retailers Harvey Nichols, Saks Fifth Avenue, 10 Corso Como, Joyce, Isetan Mitsukoshi, David Jones and online at MatchesFashion.com from August 2015.Public School said their eyes were opened during the design process in preparing for their Woolmark collection. The pair developed an better understanding of how merino wool works when designing knitwear, in particular. Moving forward, the two designers want to know more about the weaving process."We'll take the prize money to develop a knitwear team to continue the exploration into knitwear and wool in general," Osborne told a press conference in London.Considering the impact wool has had on the career of Paul Smith, for instance, the idea of investing into the development of merino wool is a wise one."Wool has been important for me all my career," concluded Smith at the event. "It's pretty hard to beat, using a natural fiber like wool, and it's good to get young people who are familiar to using technical fabrics that in parallel to using technical and high performance fabrics that wool has a lot going for it."According to the Woolmark Company, merino or sheep wool is one of the finest quality wools, obtained from animals reared primarily for this fiber. Renowned for being soft and fine, Merino wool is unique in that it brushes easily against the skin and is eco-friendly when produced. Close to 80% of merino wool for fashion apparel is produced in Australia, while the rest is done so in neighboring New Zealand and China - the latter nation producing more coarser wool fibers better suited to interiors. Materials in this article
Midnight Gray Merino Wool Natural Stretch
$ 79.95 / Meters
<p class="country">From United States</p>