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Last Friday was the first ever wool conference held at Dumfries House in Scotland. The event was organised by Campaign for Wool and it gathered the key members of the wool industry encompassing fashion, interior, manufacturing and retail to discuss the challenges currently facing the industry and how to approach the future.

Apprentices, Liberty Clayton from Anderson & Sheppard, Francis Paley from Chittleborough & Morgan,  Hannah Moore from Henry Poole and Alex Hills from Dege & Skinner attended the event where they displayed garments  made especially for the event. His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, Patron of the Campaign for Wool gave many key messages on the importance of wool like it’s natural, biodegradable and sustainable qualities.  He is one of the cloths biggest advocates and is also very supportive of young people training on Savile Row.

There were also some other amazing speakers and environmental campaigners in attendance who presented insightful information to the guests. People like Livia Firth, Orsola De Castro, British designer Sir Paul Smith and ecologist Alan Savory. Alongside many UK cloth merchants like Johnstons of Elgin, Harris Tweed and recently graduated textile students there was also members from a sewing school based in Dumfries house  in attendance. There they where they teach students different techniques, like applique and decorative sewing.  All the cloth is reused and the school is great example of the power of upcycling.