Woolmark's The Wool Lab goes digital for the first time

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 9, 2021

The Woolmark Company has taken its Wool Lab online with the launch of The Wool Lab Digital. The new platform for the fabric and yarn sourcing guide “has been developed in response to the changing needs of today’s market environment”.

It coincides with The Wool Lab’s 10th anniversary and “pays homage to the innovative essence of the curated sourcing guide, reinventing its offering to meet the needs of the global industry”. 

Woolmark said that while the structure and functionality of the digital platform have been adapted, “the core of The Wool Lab remains the same”. It’s still “a guide to the best commercially available wool fabrics and yarns, created in collaboration with the most innovative and quality-oriented spinners, knitters and weavers from across the world”.

The new online offer is freely accessible to everyone in a dedicated area of www.woolmark.com. Users need to register and will then be able to go through the guide and choose a selection of wool fabrics and yarns in which they’re interested. They’ll “immediately receive an email with the details of their chosen swatches along with the contact information of the applicable manufacturers that the user can contact to request samples”. 

The Wool Lab Digital has also identified the new market trends and product innovations that are most relevant to the current global situation.

It will present four macro-trends and will suggest fabric innovations that are most suitable. Two of the macro-trends will be released on the platform in February, with the other two coming in May. 

The first two are In Motion, which is dedicated to clothing for people who are always on the move, whether for work or leisure; and Hybrid, dedicated to hybridisation in all its facets.

Julie Davies, The Woolmark Company’s General Manager for Product Innovation and Education Extension, said that “extending The Wool Lab into the digital space will enable designers, buyers and sourcing teams to continue to connect with known suppliers and discover new, global suppliers, strengthening supply chain partnerships which is imperative within our industry.”