From 29 June to 3 July 2026, the Slovenian WOOLSHED Design Marathon took place at the headquarters of project partner UP IAM InnoRenew CoE in Izola as a summer school entitled Enabling Innovative Wool Transformation Through Sustainable and Adaptive Resource Processing. Jointly organised by the WOOLSHED project and the T4EU Green Transformer programme, the initiative aimed to showcase local sheep wool as a sustainable, high-value material with remarkable potential for a wide range of applications while encouraging the development of innovative and alternative uses for this local resource.
The summer school brought together 28 students from Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United States. Throughout the week, participants were encouraged to rethink wool not as a discarded by-product of sheep farming, but as a versatile, sustainable and technologically advanced bio-based material capable of supporting rural development, the circular economy and innovative industrial applications. Their work focused on exploring wool’s potential in three key sectors: agriculture, construction, and biorefining and biomaterials.
Supported by the state-of-the-art research infrastructure of UP IAM InnoRenew CoE, locally sourced wool, visiting experts and professional staff from the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry Nova Gorica, participants experienced a highly interdisciplinary learning programme combining classroom teaching, laboratory experimentation and practical field activities.
The first day was dedicated to theoretical lectures covering the fundamental properties of wool fibres, the environmental and socio-economic importance of sheep farming, the use of wool in agriculture and horticulture, traditional handicrafts, wool-based mycelium composites, the chemical composition of wool fibres, fermentation washing using microorganisms, the development of novel bio-composites, and the application of mathematical modelling to the wool value chain.
On the second day, students put this knowledge into practice through a series of hands-on workshops using the advanced laboratory facilities of InnoRenew CoE. They explored fibre characterisation techniques, including chemical extraction, portable fibre measurement, moisture absorption and acoustic testing, while also experimenting with wool processing methods such as fermentation washing, fleece sorting, carding and wet felting. Participants also investigated emerging applications including 3D printing, wool-based biomaterials and the use of wool as a plant-growing substrate.
On Wednesday, the group visited a sheep farm in Stomaž, where they observed professional sheep shearing and fleece sorting before travelling to Volčja Draga to visit Slovenia’s only remaining small-scale wool processing mill, alongside the larger processor Soven. The field trip concluded with a visit to the Tolmin Gorges.
The final two days were devoted to an interdisciplinary design challenge in which students worked in teams to develop prototypes and conceptual services inspired by the knowledge acquired throughout the week. The summer school concluded with presentations of innovative solutions demonstrating new possibilities for transforming wool into high-value sustainable products.
The expert jury was particularly impressed by the quality and originality of the proposals. The teams presented concepts ranging from aesthetically designed indoor air filters and circular on-farm wool management systems to prototype wool-covered pipe insulation for early leak detection, multi-layer sorbent pads for oil spill remediation, a mobile wool-processing truck designed for remote mountain areas, and wool-composite surfaces for children’s playgrounds.
The event concluded with the presentation of awards to the winning teams and certificates to all participants, highlighting how the active involvement of younger generations in interdisciplinary co-creation processes can generate innovative and practical solutions for the sustainable valorisation of local sheep wool.
