The Woolmark Company – which represents Australian woolgrowers – has revived the prestigious International Woolmark Prize and for the first time, Australia will be included in the global competition which has a history of over 60 years of supporting emerging designers across the globel who work with Australian Merino Wool with past winners including Karl Largerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent.

On 16 July in Sydney, a panel of distinguished industry judges; Edwina McCann (Editor of Vogue), Simon Lock (Founder of Australian Fashion Week), Malcolm Carfrae (VP of Global Communications Calvin Klein, Richard Nicoll (designer) and David Bush (Womenswear Buyer David Jones), will judge the Australian Merino creations of six Australian designers including Dion Lee, Carl Kapp, Kym Ellery, Christopher Esber, Song for the Mute and Magdalena Velevska.

The Australian winner will be awarded $50,000 and go through to the grand finale to present a collection made from Australian Merino Wool to be judged during London Fashion Week in February 2013 alongside winners from USA, Europe, China and India. The global winner’s Merino collection will be retailed globally for the A/W 13-14 season in the world’s best stores including Bergdorf Goodman, Harvey Nichols, Lane Crawford and David Jones.