Four students from The Hochschule Niederrhein have been selected for the renowned Italian design competition "Feel the Yarn 2025". The competition is dedicated to fashion students specialising in knitwear and traditionally takes place as part of the Pitti Filati trade fair (Florence). The participants are provided with high-quality luxury yarns from Italian spinning mills by fashion schools from all over the world, which they can then use to create an outfit.
Under the motto "Wishlist", the talented designers had to knit and realise their creative designs themselves. A particular challenge: the creative work begins with the yarn and the development of the surface and shape, instead of using ready-made fabrics in the design process.
Only 34 international young designers were selected by the expert jury for the competition, including Michèle Lemper, Julia Segschneider, Chalin Hüge and Viola Meinl from The Hochschule Niederrhein - a great success, even if none of the four reached the final, which took place in Florence at the beginning of July. "They made the knitting machines in our laboratories glow," says Ellen Bendt, Professor of Fashion Design with a specialisation in Knitwear and Innovative Product Design, who has regularly supervised the competition participants from the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology since 2012. The high-quality yarns were sponsored by the renowned Italian spinning mills Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgosesia, Filpucci, Gi.Ti.Bi. and Lanificio dell'Olivo.
The students' four special knitted outfits were exhibited at the fair and can also be admired at https://feeltheyarn.it.
