Wool4School inspires and educates students
Wool4School is an annual student competition that offers a complete design experience in the classroom while introducing a new generation of students to the versatility of Australian wool.
Wool4School is an annual competition that has been running for more than a decade and involved more than 150,000 students worldwide, not only learning the fundamentals of design but also exploring the benefits and versatility of wool and the fabric it creates.
AWI Program Manager - Education Extension, Kelly McAvoy, says Wool4School invites students to think about the versatility of various wool fabrics as part of a creative design of their own.
“The aim of the Wool4School design competition is to teach school-aged students the benefits of Australian wool so that these future designers and consumers understand wool’s benefits and are more likely to use Australian wool as their fibre of choice,” Kelly said.
On the back of the success of Wool4School in Australia, AWI also currently runs the student design competition in the key markets of the United Kingdom and Italy.
2024 Wool4School competition now open
Registrations are now open for the Australian edition of the 2024 Wool4School competition. For this year’s competition, students are asked to create a design made from wool, taking inspiration from the earth's natural elements: earth, water, fire and air.
In a new initiative for this year, students not only have the option of creating a fashion design, they can alternatively create a design for a different application such as interiors, accessories, or textile art.
The competition closes on 25 July 2024, with winners announced on 22 August 2024. There are a host of amazing prizes on offer.
- Woolgrowers and parents: Contact your local high school and encourage them to get involved in the Wool4School program. Information for schools and teachers is available at wool4school.com
- Year 7-12 students: Learn more about the exciting competition and prizes at wool4school.com.
2023 Wool4School competition winners
The theme of the 2023 competition was ‘Repair, renew, repurpose, and innovate’. Students were asked to redesign and restore a vintage, retro or pre-owned garment to give it new life with wool. The winners were:
Aspiring designer category (Year 12)
Lille Osborne, Camberwell Girls Grammar School (Vic)
Senior designer category (Year 11)
Xiang Chen, North Sydney Girls High School (NSW)
Mid designer category (Year 9-10)
Nadia Yang, Glen Waverley Secondary College (Vic)
Junior designer category (Year 7-8)
Jessica Nguyen, Killester College (Vic)
This article appeared in the December 2023 edition of AWI’s Beyond the Bale magazine. Reproduction of the article is encouraged.
