The Woolmark Company continues its support of fashion design newcomers at the Knitwear Symphony trade event in Hong Kong this evening with an award to be presented to the most outstanding young knitwear designer.

In 2011, Knitwear Symphony is said to have received an overwhelming response from the trade and there were over 1500 attendees included knitwear manufacturers, buyers, designers, suppliers and media present at the show. Knitwear Symphony has become one of the largest knitwear fashion shows worldwide, The Woolmark Company says.

The fashion show is composed of two parts - The Hong Kong Young Knitwear Designers Contest and the fashion show by local famous designers. The contest is aimed at providing a platform to ignite local young designers' creativity and sense of originality. Competition has been keen and the ten selected for the finale were chosen from over 100 applicants. The short listed candidates were mainly full time young knitwear designers.

The winner of the wool award at Knitwear Symphony in 2012 will receive travel to Australia where they will be included in a wool production pipeline tour of several Australian wool growing properties. Alex Lai, The Woolmark Company's Country Manager for Hong Kong explained:

"The level of quality among Hong Kong's designers of the future is exceptional. It is a very important part of the global strategy to support these designers." "Presenting the award for outstanding design in wool at Knitwear Symphony recognises their work and gives The Woolmark Company the opportunity to establish a long term relationship."

Knitwear Innovation and Design Society (KIDS)

The Knitwear Innovation and Design Society (KIDS) was established in January 2008 as a non-profit making, unified resource for the industry to foster the sustainable growth of the knitwear trade.

Its mission is to link the vertical and horizontal business partners in the knitwear industry in Hong Kong and other countries and help Hong Kong to build and retain a world class knitwear trade hub. KIDS serves as an information provider to maintain the technological and business knowledge and skills of the local practitioners to enhance professionalism and has earned a fast-growing reputation in holding many high quality activities and innovative projects with organisations such as AWI, HKAS and HKRITA.

"KIDS proudly presents the Knitwear Symphony each year in January at the HKCEC. At the event, Hong Kong's top knitwear fashion designers are invited to showcase their fabulous collections. This show reveals not only the capacity of the knitwear industry of Hong Kong, but also signifies a great leap forward to position Hong Kong as the world's largest sourcing, manufacturing, purchasing and design centre in global knitwear markets," The Woolmark Company said.