Woolmark Announces British Isles Winners

The 2016 British Isles International Woolmark Prize winners have been chosen: Faustine Steinmetz for womenswear and Cottweiler for menswear. The two brands had tough competition, but they were both chosen for their "innate understanding of the fibre, a keen commercial sensibility and a great design aesthetic", according to judge Dylan Jones.

Faustine Steinmetz's winning collection saw the designer dye raw Merino wool several shades of indigo before felting it onto a base fabric - a method that judgeRoksanda Ilincic said showed "incredible creativity and an almost couture-like technique with her approach to the look and the wool fibre. There was scalability from something that was more artistic and experimental to something that is commercial, which was one of the great points of her collection."

Menswear winners Cottweiler, comprising design duo Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty, created a high-performance sportswear collection, working with an Italian mill to turn Merino wool into something unexpected.

"Cottweiler are a young brand but they understand what's happening in menswear now," explained judge Gordon Richardson. "They have youthful content and were very clever with how they transformed wool in the sportswear arena. That's something you don't usually see and the collection was something you want to wear right now. That's the real skill of a designer - they are definitely in the moment."

Both fashion brands will receive an AU $50,000 lump sum and mentoring for the next six months. They will both automatically be entered into the global final for the International Woolmark Prize, in which they will compete with the other regional winners for a further AU$100,000 prize and will have their collections hosted in top retailers around the world - including Harvey Nichols in London.