‘Real Leather. Stay Different.’ student design competition 2022 announces winner

The ‘Real Leather. Stay Different.’ student design competition has announced the winner of its 2022 edition. After the finalists of the competition were revealed back in August , Fashion Design graduate Gal Benjamin from Israel has now been named the international winner.

Winner Gal Benjamin is a graduate of Shenkar College of Design, Engineering and Art in Ramat Gan, Israel. Benjamin submitted his design entitled ‘Alexithymia’, through which he aimed to express the inability of men to recognise and express emotions due to the constraints that come with the stereotype of masculinity.

‘Real Leather. Stay Different.’ student design competition is an initiative by The Leather and Hide Council of America in partnership with ArtsThread.

Applicants are encouraged to “work with natural, sustainable, responsibly produced leather in categories of apparel, footwear or accessories, using at least 50 percent leather, as some 120 million hides are thrown away, ending up in landfill or being incinerated, releasing CO2 and other harmful emissions,” reads the press release.

Entries from 130 schools in 40 countries

Students from 130 schools in 40 countries submitted their creations. Gal Benjamin and three other young designers, namely, Anna Melegh of the London College of Fashion, UAL, Gianluca Ambrosini from SCAD, and Lior Weinberg from Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art in Israel were named finalists of the competition in August.

The above-mentioned three other finalists of Real Leather. Stay Different 2022., won the awards International Category Winner in Footwear, Accessories and the People’s Choice nomination, respectively.

The Institute of Digital Fashion (IoDF) will take Gal Benjamin’s winning apparel design ‘into the metaverse’ by creating a 3D asset, an innovative and globally available AR try-on.

Commenting on their win, Gal Benjamin said in a statement: “I’m amazingly proud to win this award. My piece is made from offcuts of leather from other designs of mine, so I’m pleased to be able to use the leftovers."

"My design was inspired by my research into men’s behaviour and the violence and destruction caused by toxic masculinity which translates into Normative Male Alexithymia. It’s intended to challenge the usually aggressive tailoring of menswear,” the young designer concluded.

“The next generation of young designers has a critical role to play," Christopher Koerber, Managing Director at Hugo Boss said in the release, on behalf of the judges.

"Not only in thrilling with new designs and styles but putting the industry on a footing where sustainability, the use of natural materials, the reduction of waste and a more considered approach to the cycle of fashion, comes to the fore," he added.

"Gal Benjamin, with Alexithymia, really delivers on this with a piece that radically challenges the notion of toxic masculinity.”