International Woolmark Competition

Daniel Vosovic

Meet the Designers in America's International Woolmark Prize Finals

Congratulations are in order for a group of young designers including Joseph Altuzarra, Bibhu Mohapatra, and Wes Gordon, all of whom are in the American finals for the 2014 International Woolmark Prize.

Congratulations are in order for a group of young designers including Joseph Altuzarra, Bibhu Mohapatra, and Wes Gordon, all of whom are in the American finals for the 2014 International Woolmark Prize.

The group of finalists, which includes seven other design houses, will compete for the opportunity to go up against designers from Australia, China, India, and Europe in Milan next year. One American designer will be selected to represent the United States this July, when the 10 finalists present competition collections made with merino wool.

The prize for breaking through the other finalists and into the last round of competition is $100,000 toward that designer's next collection; the international prize is another $100,000, plus the opportunity to sell the winning collection in stores all over the world.

A look at who else is in the running, here in the gallery.

Mary-Kate Olsen

Alber Elbaz's Judging Job, Hermès's Alleged Product Policy, and Mary-Kate Olsen's New Beau

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.



Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

  • Alber Elbaz will join Vogue UK editor Alexandra Shulman and Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared2 to judge the European section of the International Woolmark Competition. The competition, in which young designers create garments from Australian merino wool, saw Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent compete against each other in 1954. [Vogue UK]

  • According to Mulberry's creative director Emma Hill, Hermès will destroy its products if they're not up to the brand's standards. "A friend who was working at Hermès said that if there was even the most minor imperfection on a bag they would take it out the back and burn it — no compromise," she said. [Fashionista]

  • Mary-Kate Olsen was spotted walking with Olivier Sarkozy, whom she is reportedly dating, in New York City's West Village this week. [The Cut]

  • Natalia Vodianova pays tribute to pinup girls from the '40s and '50s in her newest magazine cover, GQ Russia. [The Huffington Post]

  • The world's four largest sellers of clothing — Inditex (which owns Zara), H&M, The Gap, and Uniqlo — are the focus of a new study comparing everything from the number of global stores each chain has to how much its jeans cost. [Racked]