FEEL THE CONTEST 2026 - MASTER EDITION
The thread that connects inspiration to creation

With an edition dedicated to the theme of color, the Textile Museum in Prato presents an exhibition on innovation in the world of yarns and knitwear, featuring creations by students from the world’s top fashion schools and emerging designers selected through the “Feel the Contest 2026 – Master Edition” competition, now in its seventeenth edition.

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Consorzio Promozione Filati (CPF), which brings together the leading Italian yarn producers for knitwear, weaving, and needlework, using wool, cotton, cashmere, angora, linen, and a wide range of natural and synthetic fibers.

For seventeen years, the consortium, under the Feel the Yarn® brand, has been fostering and promoting the talent of new generations through the first contest dedicated to knitwear, which facilitates fruitful connections between young international designers and Italian manufacturers of the highest-quality yarns.

With “FEEL THE CONTEST 2026 – MASTER EDITION – The Thread That Unites Inspiration and Creation,” running through September 27, 2026, the work of emerging designers—exhibited during the Pitti Immagine Filati #99 trade show at the Feel the Yarn booth—are being presented for the first time at the Textile Museum, which supports today’s young talents and the textile creativity of the future.

On display will be 33 outfits selected for “Feel the Contest 2026 – Master Edition,” a competition open to Master’s students specializing in knitwear at leading fashion schools around the world, including the London College of Fashion (UK), Politecnico di Milano (IT), Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (China), Istituto Marangoni Florence, Bunka Fashion College (JP), and many others.

Each of the outfits on display at the museum—unique and original works—has been paired with a company from the Feel The Yarn® group, which produced and supplied its own yarns for the new creative design.

There were four winning projects in the 2026 edition:

–    the “Overall Winner”: Katagiri Trashipuntso from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, in partnership with Lanificio dell’Olivo;

–    the “Creativity Award”: Margherita Carmignani of the Politecnico di Milano with Filivivi yarns, presented by the President of the Textile Museum, Fabia Romagnoli;

–    the “Technical Award”: Monica Beduzzi of the Istituto Marangoni in Florence with Filatura di Pollone

–    the “Social Media Award”: Rosalie Reya of the Istituto Marangoni in Florence, in collaboration with Accademia by Industria Italiana Filati

The multi-material works by Irene Pietrobono, from the collection “ArteMonium, Ariadne’s Thread: Matter Beyond Form,” inspired by the shape and color of each outfit, accompany every outfit.