Taiwan student design competition a huge success

28th September 2020

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On September  8th, the Taiwan student design competition concluded with a glorious award ceremony at Taipei 101.

The competition, organised by LHCA in partnership with Taiwan International Leather Association (TILA), has attracted more than 300 entries from students from 15 selected Taiwan universities. Both the award ceremony and product demonstration took place at Taipei 101, the 500 metre super-skyscraper in Taiwan. Over 250 guests attended the award ceremony including representatives from the tanning and leather industry, fashion industry, local brands and retailers, media, Taiwan and US government, as well as students and teachers from participating schools. VIP guests included Elaine Liao, Editor-in-Chief of Harpers Bazaar, Richard Chen, CEO of Taiwan Steve Madden, Jen Yang, TILA founding Chairman, and Emily Scott, Director of Agricultural Trade Office, American Institute Taiwan (AIT). The award ceremony was complemented by a fashion show organized by participating students, featuring the products they had made from leather.

A prestigious judging panel led by Florence Lu, Chief Content Office of Hearst Magazine Taiwan determined the winners. Twenty-one student designs were selected for gold, silver, bronze places in each of the four categories; Garments, Footwear, Accessories and Life Craft. Gold winners for each category are listed below in the order of category, name, university and name of the product.

Accessories: Chi-Kit Yu, She-Te University, Gemini

Life craft:  Hsuan-Ting Huang & Tsung-Ying Hsieh, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Bloom Chair

Footwear: Kun-Lin Hsieh, Shih Chien University Kaohsiung Campus, Sculpture

Garment: Ong-Jia Ying, Shih Chien University Kaohsiung Campus, Drought

Je Yang, Founding Chairman of TILA said at the award ceremony: “After 50 years of hard work, Taiwan’s leather and footwear manufacturing industry has become the world’s top. However, the brand creation and design of leather products have always been dominated by European countries. I always fly to Milan and Paris for the latest leather designs. I hope that we can promote Taiwan’s leather design to the world through the “Real Leather. Stay Different” student design competition and the efforts of local leather factories, brands, retailers and designers.”

Stephen Sothmann, President of Leather & Hide Council of America said “It was unfortunate that I was not able to attend the award ceremony in person due to travel restrictions related to the pandemic. However, I am strongly encouraged by the creativity and passion for leather the Taiwanese students demonstrated in our first ever “Real Leather. Stay Different” student design competition. We hope more students and young designers continue to use leather to promote its beauty, versatility and sustainability”.

Competition winners received cash awards and US training opportunities sponsored by LHCA.

For more information on the competition click here.