Winter Olympics double gold medallist, Rosi Mittermaier, demonstrated her knitting skills on the Coats stand at h+h today. Coats plc, the world’s leading industrial thread and consumer textile crafts business, has a large presence at the annual international trade fair for creative handicraft and hobby supplies being held in Cologne, Germany (21-23 March).
Rosi was also on the stand to launch a new crafts initiative for German schools. The ‘65 years – 65 schools’ campaign marks the 65th anniversary this year of the creation of the Regia sock yarn, produced by Coats Crafts brand Schachenmayr, and will provide 65 schools all over Germany with free materials and instructions for their handicraft classes.
Michael Schofer, CEO, Global Crafts, Coats plc, said: ‘Rosi is a keen hand knitter so her support of our ‘65 years – 65 schools’ campaign is very welcome. Crafting skills such as knitting and crocheting are for people of all ages and it is important we promote the teaching of traditional handicraft techniques in schools to ensure children develop the basic skills from an early age.’
Rosi Mittermaier said, ‘This campaign encourages children’s creativity and motor skills. In addition, the pride of creating something themselves is an extremely important and beneficial experience for the young.’
Rosi was also given a demonstration of how Coats is using digital technology to provide inspiration to crafters around the world including the ‘My Mountain’ hat designer app and the makeitcoats.com web portal. The recently launched makeitcoats.com site provides an unparalleled digital experience to inspire, inform and teach crafters.
Crafts materials will be delivered to the selected schools ahead of the start of the new German school year starting this August.
Rosi won two gold medals (downhill and slalom) and one silver (giant slalom) at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, making her one of the most successful competitors at the games. She is married to Christian Neureuther, winner of six World Cup slalom races. Their son Felix Neureuther, World Cup ski racer, is brand ambassador for Schachenmayr which includes the MyMountain design collection.