The reputation of the WoolOn Creative Fashion event is spreading internationally, with interest in this year's contest coming from designers in the United Kingdom.
''We've had entries other years from India and Australia and it looks like we might get some from the United Kingdom this year,'' event manager Martin McPherson said yesterday.
The event forms part of the annual Alexandra Blossom Festival and the Otago Daily Times is the major sponsor of WoolOn this year.
Allied Press group advertising manager Paul Dwyer said the Otago Daily Times was the sponsor for the first few years of WoolOn and two of its former staff members, Deirdre Mackenzie and Janice Millis, were instrumental in getting the fashion event started 11 years ago.
''So for us, it represents a homecoming of sorts and we were pleased the committee approached us to be involved again,'' he said.
The newspaper had a strong regional readership and sponsoring an event which highlighted the rural sector ''fits nicely with what we do''.
Festival chairwoman Clair Higginson said the organising committee was grateful for the support shown by the ODT.
It was happy to join forces with the newspaper, which already had a high profile in the fashion industry through its involvement in the iD Dunedin Fashion Week.
She said there were two main indicators of the esteem in which the WoolOn event was held. The first was the quality of entries, and the second was the diversity of attendance at the two evenings which showcased the entries.
''There's people from all over - farmers, businesspeople, corporates, families, husband-and-wife teams.''
The festival celebrated spring and the district's fruit and harvest, while WoolOn celebrated the special fibre produced in the area, Ms Higginson said.
Entries are open for this year's WoolOn, which will be staged in Alexandra on October 10-11. Garments must contain at least 75% wool and the contest is divided into eight categories, with a separate prize for the supreme winner. Entries close on August 16.
WoolOn was started as part of the New Zealand Merino Shears to showcase the use of wool in fashion and it became part of the festival programme nine years ago.
