MILAN — Duran Lantink was named the winner of the 2025 International Woolmark Prize at a ceremony here Wednesday.
The Dutch designer was handed the award by Donatella Versace , who was named this edition's chair of judges, and Ib Kamara , the contest's guest artistic director for 2025.
"We live in a gray world and Duran represents a much needed energy and a sense of humor and optimism with a respect for tradition and an anarchic sense of futurism," Versace said.
The designer will receive a cash prize of 300,000 Australian dollars, or around $195,000, 50 percent more than in previous years.
Mulier was recognized for his Alaïa summer-fall 2024 collection made entirely from a single wool yarn . The global wool authority praised how Mulier worked in close collaboration with the brand's longstanding textile and knitwear suppliers and challenged them to experiment with the versatility of Merino wool and reimagine the yarn in different forms and textures, from fluffy surfaces to technical ones in outerwear.
In receiving the prize, Lantink acknowledged his team and especially the community of 15 female knitters based in Amsterdam that helped him develop the collection. "It was so good to have people with expertise in wool and knitting and to have that conversation. For me, that was really important because I am not a knit expert," the designer said.
"I keep discovering things about wool, and how in hand knitting there is a certain type of richness and soul. When you see the hand-knitted pieces, like the shirts, they feel so rich and you can't accomplish that with a machine." He also realized how big of a role community and the slow process play. "And that's one of the most important things because I'm quite an impatient person — but I learned to be very patient," he said.
Lantink teased the collaboration with the hand knitters might continue as "we might need to duplicate one dress for a big museum."
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