WOOL WORKS: Capsule collections from Woolmark Prize winners M. Patmos and Public School land at Harvey Nichols today, and the winning designers talked about how they wrapped their imaginations around the natural fiber — and the myriad challenges that went into manufacturing their designs.
“We treated it as a compression, and made it tight,” said Dao-Yi Chow, who spoke during a Q&A at the store early Tuesday.
Chow and Maxwell Osborne, the designers behind Public School and created a men’s wear collection, said they wanted to make an all-season offering. They were thinking about “the last civilization” and how its people would incorporate wool into their lives, with pieces including hoodies, leggings and roomy tunic tops.
The two admitted there were difficulties along the way, including fixing the edges of rubberized layered wool design, which eventually fell by the wayside, and finding factories that would machine knit the pieces in small quantities.
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“In the U.S., that’s not the easiest thing to do. The whole process forced us to venture outside our wheelhouse,” said Osborne.
The journey paid off, however, and both Public School designers said knitwear would play a bigger role in their collection going forward. The prize money even allowed them to hire a knitwear designer.
It’s a similar story at M. Patmos, where designer Marcia Patmos said she discovered during the process of making her high-end travel capsule collection that merino wool can work as batting for quilting; or for ballerina-style tulle, gauze and elastic.
Prices for the Public School capsule range from 235 pounds, or $357, to 740 pounds, or $1,124. For M. Patmos, they range from 265 pounds, or $403, to 3,395 pounds, or $5,158.