Romance Was Born has won the $10,000 Woolmark Designer Award at L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. The award was presented last night to the label's designers Luke Sales,28, and Anna Plunkett, 27.

"It's only just sunk in this morning and we're a bit emotional," said Sales this morning. "It just means so much to us, we didn't expect to win."

In addition to the cash, the prize includes $10,000 worth of travel to either Pitti Fialti in Milan or Première Vision in Paris, as well as introductions to Australian Wool Innovation's worldwide supply network or expert weavers and manufacturers

"We're really into developing our own fabric so we'd really love to travel to Pitti Filati to see how we can develop our knitting techniques. We don't so much want to start manufacturing overseas, but it would be great to see new things and bring them back," said Sales.

Also in the running for the prize were five other finalists, Ant!podium, Gary Bigeni, Ellery, Konstantina Mittas and Therese Rawsthorne.

Ben Pollitt of label Friedrich Gray, won last year's inaugural award. "It gave me recognition amongst buyers and the media. Just having the Woolmark logo on your invitations opens a lot of doors. This award will help Anna and Luke meet great suppliers that I'm sure they'll be keen to work with. And the money always helps," Pollitt said.

Plunkett also recently won Yen's Young Woman of the Year Award.