The Second Annual Canadian Wool Innovation Prize (CWIP), worth $10,000, is accepting applications until Oct. 31, 2025.
Why it matters: Celebrating commercial innovation within Canada’s domestic wool value chain and its connection to the global industry, CWIP is the largest payout of its kind.
“Wool is the most incredible fibre, and we’re honoured to give a boost to the innovative Canadians making the most of what it has to offer,” said Matthew Rowe, Canadian Wool Council CEO, in a statement.
“Through this prize, we are investing in future demand for natural, sustainable, renewable, Canadian wool.”
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Partially funded by the Worshipful Company of Woolmen, which administers the British Innovation in Wool Awards, and the Campaign for Wool Canada/Canadian Wool Council, the competition bridges the Canadian and British wool industries, opening new opportunities for collaboration.
Applicants with commercially viable innovation projects or businesses, including apparel, interiors, agriculture, science and other fields, must meet one or more of the following criteria: primarily using Canadian wool, demonstrating tangible value for Canadian wool products, utilizing Canadian or United Kingdom manufacturing, and showing potential wool volume usage for the first year with future scalability.
The CWIP split the prize in year one between two companies, Brand Felt and the General Bean.
Mississauga’s Brand Felt, a fourth-generation felt manufacturer, created the “F10 Ultra Unity Pad”, a one-piece patented contoured saddle pad made with premium wool felt and heroes’ wool, supplied by Merino Rambouillet sheep from Wilson Ranch in Alberta, rather than synthetic fibres.
The General Bean, a family-run fibre art business on British Columbia’s north coast, creates sustainable, locally crafted needle felting kits made with Canadian wool and sold throughout North America. These kits not only support Canada’s wool industry but also help preserve fibre art skills.
