#Yarn & Fiber
Woolmark relaunches the successful Cool Wool Campaign for Summer 2012
Merino wool is used for its natural breathable and thermal-management properties in lighterweight fabrics for warmer climes and Spring/Summer markets. Offering a soft, luxurious handle and drape, the Cool Wool fabrics will initially be taken into the buoyant Gulf markets where there is a strong demand for finer fabrics in both domestic consumption and re-export across the region.
A guild of leading luxury weavers, supplying international brands and bespoke tailors, launched Cool Wool fabrics in their Spring ranges to the global apparel industry at Milano Unica and Première Vision, February 2012. The consumer launch will take place in the Gulf during July, followed by a wider introduction into other key fashion and wool consuming markets from Spring 2013.
The Wool Lab S/S 13
Cool Wool forms an important element within The Woolmark Company’s Wool Lab presentation for Spring/Summer 2013, the seasonal guide to trends and the best wool fabrics and yarns. The launch of the Cool Wool consumer program reinforces The Wool Lab SS 2013 key themes for lighterweight and fine Merino fabrics that have been created to unveil the potential of Merino wool products in the warmer months.
The media and industry response of The Wool Lab SS13, at its launch at Pitti Uomo, January 2012, confirmed that the guide has become an essential tool for highlighting and inspiring the global apparel industry to source the best Merino wool fabrics and yarns in the world, identifying emerging trends in fashion and other fields from design to art, music and pop culture.
Cool Wool is included in The Wool Lab as a leading trend, expressing a ‘return to elegance’ and an emerging request of quality, and showcasing the finest and most precious Merino wools, in its lighter variation, renewing classic materials, volumes and colours.
The Cool Wool theme is presented in two ways: the first is more traditional, the second is more relaxed and easy.
La Dolce Vita presents a slightly more formal mood and inspiration with modern accents and unexpected touches to capture a more youthful (or young at heart) consumer who is looking for materials of higher quality. The finest Merino wools are mixed with mohair or silk in natural and classic colours.
Newport is the summer interpretation of the new preppy style which has become a long-term trend, celebrating the WASP aesthetic through a continuous renewal, season after season. It is the style of the holiday spots of the American east coast, full of Kennedy-inspired memories and atmosphere, evoking the Great Gatsby, with a more relaxed mood: the most precious Merino is mixed with natural fibres such as cotton or linen, to achieve a ‘relaxed’ look. Jersey and fine knits complete the theme, providing accents of colour.
Both La Dolce Vita and Newport celebrate the fibres natural qualities making Merino wool ideal for the warmest climates and months including exceptional lightness, fineness, softness and comfort next to skin, breathability, natural elasticity and UV protection. Features that perfectly match the fabric and garment attributes of demanding consumers, who expect quality products, combining style and performance, to be used throughout the year and in every type of climate, always assuring maximum elegance and functionality.
Cool Wool Launch
Robert Langtry, Chief Marketing Officer of The Woolmark Company in Sydney, said: “Woolmark’s recent global ‘Merino. No Finer Feeling™’ campaign demonstrated the superbly soft handle and exquisite drape of fine Merino wool fabrics. The Cool Wool Campaign will complement this with a particular message about Merino’s unique adaptability to hot and humid conditions, coupled with the fibre’s ability to regulate body temperature”.
“Initially the Campaign will concentrate on the Arabian Gulf markets where lightweight fabrics are sold year-round for traditional tailoring in an increasingly healthy retail climate. Demonstrating fine Merino’s cooling characteristics in the heat of a Dubai July will provide a perfect platform to reintroduce the Cool Wool concept this summer. Cool Wool was considered to be one of The Woolmark Company’s most successful global campaigns when it was launched in the mid-1980s”.
Stuart McCullough, Chief Executive Officer of The Woolmark Company, noted: “This marketing campaign has been relaunched in response to requests that came directly from the industry, I am thrilled that so many weavers were so quick to include their lightweight wool fabrics into the SS 2013 Cool Wool collection. I feel the timing is perfect as science now demonstrates Merino wool’s innate breathability and natural cooling ability in searing heat. That the campaign returns at a time when the word ‘cool’ is now back into common parlance to demonstrate a unique idea or clever concept is indeed a bonus”.
