Florence, 24 June 2026 – Woolmark returns to Pitti Filati to lead AW27 sourcing conversations, spotlighting two new The Wool Lab trend-led themes, the debut of The Wool Lab journal for the European and Italian market and a stand centring the role of Merino wool as a high-performance technical fibre.
At stand I/20, Woolmark presents innovative and commercially available wool yarns, fabrics and processes for AW27, in a dedicated space exploring the advanced capabilities of Merino wool across performance, comfort and design innovation. Visitors will find the latest swatches from The Wool Lab’s newest themes - Gen K and Embodiment - alongside a showcase of product innovations including wool faux fur and boiled wool, offering a forward-looking view of wool in knitwear through to layering systems and interior textiles.
The Wool Lab AW27 Themes: Gen K and Embodiment
A global physical and digital platform for sourcing opportunities in wool, The Wool Lab’s two latest themes explore the fibre’s potential as a canvas for craft-led innovation in knitwear and across both the body and the spaces we inhabit.
Gen K connects past and future through the visual language of depth and form, balancing craft and elevated rebellion, with constructions including Superfine Merino wool multi-ply braid stitch cable, WholegarmentÒ floating jacquard bouclé and 100% Extrafine Merino wool waterless indigo pigment pointelle, among a selection of Merino wool and blends with cashmere, silk and cotton across fine gauges and sculptural volume. Embodiment spans body and space, tracing Merino wool across base-layers, fluid knitwear and interior textiles from virgin wool and silk blends to acoustic wool felt panels and naturally dyed handwoven stoles.
Stand Features: Wool Faux Fur and Boiled Wool
Alongside The Wool Lab’s latest themes, two knitwear innovations will be featured on the stand and in The Wool Lab Journal. Both wool faux fur and boiled wool demonstrate the technical and creative range of Merino wool for AW27 sourcing. Wool faux fur achieves the warmth, volume and tactile depth of traditional fur, without being a fur at all, while tapping into wool’s thermal properties, resilience and moisture management for fabrications that are at once voluminous, lightweight and comfortable. Boiled wool is a study in the potential of the wool fibre to create constructions that are deliberately felted through heat, water and movement for greater body, density and sculptural presence. Of note is the capacity to apply the boiling process at garment stage, knitting and linking the completed garment before boiling rather than cutting pre-felted panels, in an innovative approach that reduces material waste while preserving wool’s warmth and silhouette.
The Wool Lab Journal Debut: Italy and Europe
Marking its entry into the Italian and European market at Pitti Filati, The Wool Lab journal is an editorial publication highlighting the most significant innovations in wool. Offering buyers, designers and sourcing professionals a deeper reference point for the most compelling materials, techniques and creative directions, The Wool Lab Journal expands the approach of The Wool Lab in a complementary format.
Pitti Filati Stand Highlights
- Merino Wool: The Technical Fibre: a dedicated showcase presenting the advanced performance credentials of Merino wool for AW27 winter sourcing
- The Wool Lab’s latest swatches across the Gen K and Embodiment themes, featuring innovative yarn and fabric compositions from Woolmark’s global supplier network
- Wool faux fur and boiled wool product innovation displays
- The Wool Lab Journal, debuting in the European market with editorial coverage of the season’s most significant wool innovations
- On-stand consultations with Woolmark’s technical experts for sourcing, Woolmark certification and quality assurance guidance.
The Wool Lab is also accessible online as a global digital sourcing solution.
Gen K
A balance of craft and elevated rebellion, Gen K connects past and future through the visual language of depth and form. With fine gauges and sculptural volume, explore knitwear that mediates tradition and modernity. Heritage stitches are reinterpreted with technical precision, harnessing the wool fibre’s natural capacity for variation in weight, texture and artistic expression.
Fresh and brave, Gen K claims knitwear as a channel of emotional resonance for a new generation. Identity is woven in the continuous loops of fine gauge structures, directly contrasted with full, architectural knits. Gen K reframes the enduring craft of knitting, transposing identity into the medium of wool and tying the past to the future with advanced knitting techniques in a testament to individuality.
Embodiment
Celebrate the bond between body and environment. Inspired by the Japanese Buddhist principle of Esho Funi, explore Merino wool as a symbol of the connection between an individual’s subjective life and their surrounding environment. Craft garments and interiors from Merino wool and wool blends that reflect and influence our movement through life, both in what is worn and the spaces we inhabit, drawing on wool's innate qualities: comfort, sound absorption, temperature regulation and versatility across design categories.
Embodiment traces the mutual relationship between what we wear and the homes we live in, and how each moulds our inner landscape. Design garments and interiors that give form to an abstract experience, where the boundary between inner self and outside environment dissolves. Speak to a way of living defined by intentional simplicity, rooted in the belief that self and environment are inseparable, balanced with mindful modernity expressed in daily rituals, whether it’s yoga by sunrise, gardening by day or introspective calm by night.
In a visual identity that flows between person and environment, Embodiment explores two interconnected ideas – SPACE and FORM – where what we wear and the places we reside become a continuous loop to express the innermost self.
WOOLMARK
Woolmark stands as the global authority on wool. Through extensive industry relationships, it promotes wool as the ultimate natural fibre and premier ingredient in premium textile products. The Woolmark Logo is one of the most recognised and respected brands, representing quality and pioneering excellence from farm to finished product.
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