OTEYZA and IE School of Architecture & Design Join Forces in the Merino Global Centre of Excellence
The new Centre will position Spain as a leader in the production and craftsmanship of the world’s highest-quality wool.
Madrid, 2 December 2025 — OTEYZA, the luxury fashion house, introduces the first 100% Spanish extra-fine merino cloth capable of competing with the world’s top wools and textiles. After ten years of dedicated work—and centuries of neglect—the brand has succeeded in restoring Spain’s exceptional merino: its fiber length, fineness, and, above all, its eight crimps per centimeter (R8), which give it unmatched elasticity, strength, and resilience. This pioneering achievement aims to revive and reposition Spain’s finest merino wool in the luxury and high-craft sectors through species preservation and development, research, collaboration, and sustainability, blending tradition with innovation.
At the launch event held at IE University’s Paper Pavilion, OTEYZA announced the creation of the Global Merino Excellence Center (Centro de Excelencia Mundial del Merino, or CEMM). Conceived as the new international benchmark for Spain’s finest merino, the Center is dedicated to advancing and refining the material and to fostering its applications across high craftsmanship, fashion, and the decorative arts.
The Global Merino Excellence Center is supported academically by IE A&D, the School of Architecture and Design at IE University, and backed by institutions including the Royal Tapestry Factory (Real Fábrica de Tapices), the Garment Museum (Museo del Traje), and Spain’s Ministry of Culture, among others.
"This is without question a historic moment—the recovery of Spain’s exceptional merino, the most important legacy of Spanish fashion. We are doing it alongside the best partners we could imagine: prestigious institutions such as IE University, the Royal Tapestry Factory, the Costume Museum, the Culture Department of the Community of Madrid, historic livestock breeders, and Dormeuil, among others. Our ambition is to set a new tempo and a new era for merino excellence and, through it, for Spanish design, luxury, fashion, and decorative arts worldwide," said Paul García, co-founder of OTEYZA.
Inés Quezada, Academic Director of the Bachelor in Fashion Design at IE University, added: "Collaborating with the CEMM aligns with our commitment to sustainability and to craftsmanship rooted in the local. At the IE School of Architecture & Design—particularly within the Fashion Design program—we champion noble, locally sourced, low-impact materials, and we work closely with nearby suppliers and partners to build an authentic, identity-driven voice. We are proud to join forces with institutions that share our mission to protect, research, and promote Spanish merino wool, a cultural and material heritage of immense value. We firmly believe that local action can achieve global impact."
Merino wool, renowned for its exceptional quality and deep historical ties to Spain, stands as a symbol of cultural identity—both material and immaterial—and a strategic driver of economic and social development.
The new CEMM will strengthen and safeguard this cultural, material, immaterial, and intellectual heritage through the preservation of its legacy, the development of contemporary and cutting-edge design, and the continual creation of value rooted in high quality and sustainability. The Center is intended for artists, makers, designers, and students working with merino and its textiles.
Among CEMM’s goals are advancing research into new uses, treatments, and finishes for merino to support its expansion into international markets; organizing national and international competitions to attract talent around merino; supporting the ongoing development of a high-grade merino flock through improved classification and breeding; promoting new quality standards across the value chain; driving dissemination, study, and debate through expert meetings and research forums; forging strategic international alliances with organizations and institutions to position merino as a flagship material within global networks of high craftsmanship, fashion, and decorative arts; and elevating the cultural and intellectual heritage of Spanish merino worldwide.
These efforts will be carried out by a coalition of institutions and organizations that, together with OTEYZA, bring extensive expertise in their respective fields: IE University in education and research; the Royal Tapestry Factory in high craftsmanship; the Garment Museum and the Ministry of Culture in heritage preservation; and OTEYZA in high craftsmanship, the performing arts, design, and fashion.
Image on the cover: Paul García and Caterina Pañeda, co-founders of Oteyza, together with Inés Quezada, Director of the Bachelor in Fashion Design at IE University; Cristina Mateo, Associate Dean of IE A&D; Baruc Corazón, Senior Advisor in Fashion Studies, IE University; Geoffroy Gérard, Director of the IE Foundation; and representatives from the Garment Museum (Museo del Traje), the Royal Tapestry Factory (Real Fábrica de Tapices), the Community of Madrid, and merino wool experts.