Real Leather. Stay Different. International Student Design Competition 2022

Washington, DC, March 11, 2022 The Real Leather. Stay Different. International Student Design Competition (RLSD), in partnership with ArtsThread, the leading digital platform for emerging artists and designers, has confirmed its return for 2022. The competition, which started in 2021, is a global search for new design talent open to students and recent graduates from anywhere around the world. The 2022 competition opened March 9 at https://www.artsthread.com/international-student-design-competition-2022

The inaugural RLSD competition received over 400 entries from students representing more than 100 universities around the world. It set out to encourage the use and role of leather in delivering a more sustainable future. In 2022, the RSLD competition asks the question, “Fast Fashion or Slow Style?”, as it searches for the next generation of design talent with a future-first, slow fashion message.

Entrants will be challenged to design a single piece of apparel, accessory or footwear using where possible natural materials and 50% or more leather. Shortlisted finalists will be invited to join an all-expenses paid live showcase final hosted in London in September 2022, where they will present their design concept to a judging panel of fashion pioneers and future industry experts, including the winner of the inaugural 2021 competition, Emily Omesi.

A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, Emily won the 2021 competition with her well-thought and provocative leather jacket design entitled ‘Bacterial Genetics’. As the global winner Emily won the opportunity to have her design professionally made as well as featured on the cover of famed fashion magazine, Rollacoaster. She now works at Oscar de la Renta. Full details of the 2022 judging panel and competition prizes will be revealed in due course.

The competition is run by Real Leather. Stay Different. on behalf of the Leather & Hide Council of America [L&HCA]. US Leather accounts for more than 37% of all hides exported globally each year. As such, L&HCA recognises its role and responsibility in promoting leather to a broad audience and in working with the industry around the world to ensure best practice and a sustainable future.

Steve Sothmann, President of L&HCA, commented:

“The competition’s mission is to spark the interest of young designers to work with natural, sustainable, responsibly produced real leather - a by-product of the meat and dairy industries - which puts hides that otherwise go to landfill, to good use.

“120 million hides are thrown away every year. In their place the fashion industry uses plastic, synthetics and fake pleathers. The result is more demand for oil, more low-cost disposable clothing, more waste, more landfill, more micro-fibres in our waters and more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

As a society we need to take a much broader view about what we consume and how we consume it. Too many of our fashion choices end up in landfill, creating a legacy to today’s society that will be there for centuries. Buying leather that will last a lifetime is a simple way to take a stand against ‘fast fashion’ for the environment.

Alex Brownless, Co-Founder & President of ArtsThread, added:

“The creativity and passion for leather demonstrated in the competition last year was impressive and there was no doubting the quality of the design talent as demonstrated by Emily, her fellow finalists and the hundreds of entrants.

“We are delighted to once again be supporting Real Leather. Stay Different. International Student Design Competition. Not only is it a wonderful opportunity for students, who due to the pandemic have seen a dwindling number of options, to showcase their talent but it also highlights the critical need to reject fast fashion and replace this with slow style.”

For more information on the competition, please visit: www.chooserealleather.com/international-competition/.

ABOUT THE LEATHER AND HIDE COUNCIL OF AMERICA

Formed by the 2020 merger of the United States Hide, Skin and Leather Association (USHSLA) and Leather Industries of America (LIA), the Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) is a full-service industry trade association representing the entire U.S. leather supply chain, including meatpackers, hides and skins processors, traders, leather tanners, finished leather goods producers, footwear companies, chemical suppliers, machinery producers, trade media and market reporters, freight forwarders, transportation service providers, financial institutions and more. The association provides its members with government, public relations, and international trade assistance and support. LHCA is a cooperator organization under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s foreign market development programs, assisting U.S. firms develop new markets for U.S. agricultural exports. LHCA is at the forefront of the industry’s needs, providing members with education and technical information to compete in today’s global marketplace.

ABOUT REAL LEATHER. STAY DIFFERENT

Real Leather. Stay Different is a global campaign that has reached some 750 million people and hundreds of thousands of students. 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 the by-products of the dairy and meat industries, before looking to the petrochemical industries for manmade materials. Flexible and durable, leather is the natural alternative to fast fashion. Real Leather. Stay Different. has been running regional competitions in Italy, China, the UK and Taiwan since the end of 2019 and this year will see the inclusion of the Nordic region. It has attracted more than 1,000 design submissions in categories spanning Garments, Footwear, Accessories and Design. The International Student Design Competition will run alongside the national programs in 2022.

www.chooserealleather.com is a place for inspiration, information and creativity with contributors ranging from craftspeople to designers, stylists, and photographers to retailers talking about leather and debating the future of fashion and sustainability.

ABOUT ARTS THREAD

ARTS THREAD is the leading digital platform for emerging artists and designers, a launchpad for the next generation of creative talent representing approximately 350,000 students in 130 countries from over 950 universities/design schools. It bridges the gap between education and the creative industry. For the first time ever, design students, graduates, universities, schools, and the creative industry can network worldwide.