Update!
CATEGORY WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT
Apparel: Gal Benjamin from Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, Israel for Alexithymia
Footwear: Anna Melegh from London College of Fashion, UAL, UK for Haute Couture Trash
Accessories: Gianluca Ambrosini from SCAD Savannah, USA for Pouch Shopping Bag (Bag)
People’s Choice: Lior Weinberg who is also from Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, Israel for Paradox of Fashion
The judging panel, which will interview the winners in person at the International final, includes Christopher Koerber (Managing Director, HUGO BOSS), Rosie Wollacott Phillips (Head of Sustainability, Mulberry), Mike Adler(Style & Fashion Director), Leanne Elliott Young and Cattytay (Co-Founders, Institute of Digital Fashion) & Emily Omesi (FIT NYC graduate and the 2021 International winner)
Update! PEOPLE’S CHOICE VOTE!
The Real Leather. Stay Different. International Student Design Competition 2022, in association with our friends at ArtsThread, has now closed.
We have curated a shortlist of original and innovative designs from the International entries and it is now your chance to vote for your favourite design for the People’s Choice Award, whose winner will have their design professionally made and become a finalist in the Global Final Event, taking place in London at the start of London Fashion Week in September.
This will give them the chance to be the Overall Winner for this year’s International Competition.
Click here to see the shortlist, click on the entries to open up the portfolios, and cast your vote!
Voting closes on the 7th of August at midnight.
Real Leather. Stay Different. International Design Competition 2022
Following last year’s inaugural RLSD competition, which received some 100’s of entries from students & graduates representing over 100 universities globally, we are delighted to host the International Student Design Competition 2022, a global search for the best new designers and for those who want to promote slow style and a more sustainable future for fashion.
Are you concerned about fast throwaway fashion and unsustainable materials? According to Greenpeace, synthetics - made using petrochemicals from the oil industry - now make up 60% of our clothing. These materials, which take hundreds of years to biodegrade, often lack quality and endurance, leading to nearly 1 billion items of clothing- that are typically just worn five times - being thrown away annually.
In the meantime leather, which is a natural bio produce of the dairy and meat industry, created by our growing demand for food – from burgers to milkshakes, lasts a lifetime and biodegrades quickly. But each year almost half of the world’s leather hides are just thrown away.
To encourage thinking about our planet’s future and to combat this waste, our judges are challenging you to create an original, innovative and visually stunning design, in one of three categories of apparel, accessories or footwear made from real leather. They would also like to see how entrants are approaching creating garments that will not only last, but be loved, for a lifetime.
DEADLINE TO APPLY: June 30 2022 23.59 ET
THE PRIZE
The shortlist finalists will be invited (all expenses paid) to join a live showcase final event hosted in London in September 2022 during London Fashion Week, where they will present their design concept to a judging panel of fashion pioneers and industry experts. The winners’ designs will be professionally made, with additional prizes to be announced shortly.
THE BRIEF & DELIVERABLES
You are asked to use leather as the inspiration for a single item, either clothing, footwear or accessories, using leather at least 50% of the item and where possible other natural materials. Furs and exotic skins are not permitted. We would like your piece to capture one or more of the facets of leather, from beauty and versatility to strength and durability.
Entries should include all these elements -
1 – Storyboards & Inspiration - minimum 2 pages
2 - Sketches, Flats, Technical Specs, and One Final Design Drawing (the item does not need to be physically made - the winner’s design will be professionally made.)
3 – Make a video! It’s optional, but we’d love to see one. A short two-minute video to introduce you and your design.
There are some practical considerations as we are looking for the designers who will start new brands, fashion movements or style trends.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
- Open to anyone studying art and design or has graduated from art and design higher education within the last two (2) years.
- Entrants must be over 18 years old.
- Open globally
- Entrants cannot be currently employed full-time within the creative sector.
HOW TO ENTER
STEP 1
Already got an ARTS THREAD portfolio? To enter, simply log into your account, upload your design as a new project, return to this page and select your project into the Competition box above.
New to ARTS THREAD? To enter, register to create an ARTS THREAD account and go to your email and click on the activation link sent to your email Inbox. Then log into your account, upload your project, then return to this page and select your project into the Competition box above.
AFTER COMPLETING STEP 1
STEP 2
Complete our online International Design Competition 2022 Entry Form
Please ensure you have read the Terms & Conditions for the International Design Competition 2022
ENTRY: Free to apply
DEADLINE TO APPLY: June 30 2022 23.59 ET
MEET THE JUDGES
Christopher Koerber, Managing Director, HUGO BOSS Ticino
Throughout the course of his career, Christopher Koerber has become known as being a change agent, an innovative, a big-picture thinker, a strong cross-functional collaborator, and a powerful motivator and mentor who raises the performance of diverse, global teams. He has always championed sustainability and the importance of individual achievement toward the greater good of the collective. Sharing a compelling vision of the future that galvanizes teams and promotes a winning culture is paramount. Christopher has spent most of his professional life in the fashion industry, most recently in senior executive roles at PVH Corp for Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger before his current role at HUGO BOSS. He excels in dynamic, fast-paced environments describing himself as “forward-thinking and product-obsessed with a sixth sense for monitoring trends.”
Rosie Wollacott Phillips, Group Sustainability Manager, Mulberry
With over 10 years of experience at luxury leather goods brand Mulberry, Rosie is a pioneer for change andimprovement across the entire sustainability spectrum. She coordinates Mulberry's Corporate SocialResponsibility activities to ensure that the company meets its published Commitment to “make a positivedifference to its people, environment, and the communities it works in. Rosie was recently named in theannual Walpole Power List, as one of five Future-proofers (“Guardians of brand legacy, future-proofingbusinesses with sustainable initiatives) in its50 Most Influential People in British Luxury and is a member ofedie's 2020 30 Under 30 group of sustainability leaders. She is also an advisory board member for theSustainable Leather Foundation.
Meet Last Year’s Winner....Emily Omesi
Emily is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She won the 2021 competition with her stunning and provocative leather jacket design, ‘Bacterial Genetics’. As the global winner, Emily had her design professionally made and featured on the cover of iconic fashion magazine Rollacoaster. She now works for Oscar de la Renta.
Meet the Fashion Stylist…. Mike Adler
Mike has worked for leading fashion magazines and some of the world’s most iconic photographers. His expertise and connections with many Haute Couture brands has given him a unique eye and style celebrities yearn for. Across a career spanning 20 years (and counting), Mike has attended to the style of Josh O'Connor, Maisie Williams, Elizabeth Hurley, Emma Corrin and Monica Bellucci, among many others. What he loves about leather is that it crosses many fashion trends
“I think the future of fashion is sustainability – and it is a consumer-led movement. Big brands are being driven to be more ethical in the way they source their leather and the assets they use. And sustainable leather has also become more available to brands.”
Meet the President… Stephen Sothmann
Steve is the president of Leather and Hide Council of America (L&HCA) and is passionate about the use of leather as the material of choice, stylish, durable and iconic, that stands in the face of fast fashion. It is about reaching out to tomorrow’s designers - the ones that are going to be making decisions in the fashion houses, and ultimately shape our tomorrows. “I am proud to be part of an industry that predates that of fashion and indeed the concept of industry itself; and that leather is coming back into vogue as fashion looks to a greener, more sustainable future.”
ABOUT REAL LEATHER. STAY DIFFERENT.
Real Leather. Stay Different is a global campaign that last year reached some 750 million people around the globe. It makes the case for leather and other natural materials, and for making the best use of society’s waste, particularly the hides that are by-products of the dairy and meat industries, before looking to the petrochemical industries for manmade materials. Flexible and durable, leather is part of a more natural alternative to ‘fast fashion’.
For more background information on the competition and the Real Leather. Stay Different. campaign, visit chooserealleather.com and follow us on Instagram at @chooserealleather and on Facebook.
