Forbes Israel publishes its 30 Under 30 list every year to celebrate the country’s best young innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders.
Tamar, a fashion and accessories designer based in Tel Aviv and a graduate of the Fashion Design Department at Shenkar University, is exactly the kind of talent RLSD was built to find and champion. Seeing a former winner recognized on this stage is a powerful reminder of why the competition matters, and of what becomes possible when young designers are given a genuine platform to show the world what they can do.
Tamar’s success is not an isolated story. Over six years, RLSD has built a track record of turning student designers into industry leaders.
Last year’s fifth RLSD Student Design Competition broke new ground with a spectacular grand final held in Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper. Judges included representatives from Hugo Boss and Harper’s Bazaar as the event moved to Taipei, the design gateway to the fast-growing US hide export market in Asia. More than 100 of the most influential people in media, design and production attended, cementing RLSD’s status as a globally recognized competition shaping the future use of leather in fashion.
Developed by the Leather & Hide Council of America and funded through the USDA Market Access Program, the RLSD Competition promotes the sustainable use of leather in apparel, accessory and footwear design.
Impact That Extends Beyond Awards Night
Last year alone, the RLSD campaign attracted more than 660,000 visitors to rlsd.internationaldesigncomp.com and reached an average of two million people monthly through social media. Since its 2021 launch, RLSD has engaged 7,500 students from 720 universities across 48 countries, producing more than 70 award-winning designers who now form an influential alumni network.
The strategy behind these figures is to embed the story of US leather, and the knowledge of how to use it, directly into fashion colleges’ curricula, and to place leather advocates inside the design teams of global fashion brands. It’s a long game, and it’s working. In 2025, the campaign was promoted by 471 of the world’s fashion colleges, one-third of all fashion colleges worldwide, including all of the top five as recognized by Business of Fashion.
Where RLSD Alumni End Up
RLSD entrants have gone on to secure positions with leading companies including Christian Louboutin, Dior, New Balance, Louis Vuitton and Loewe, placing leather advocates at the heart of internationally prestigious brands. One of last year’s finalists took a placement with Hugo Boss, and previous finalists have gone on to establish their own leather-focused fashion labels.
A Community of Advocates, Positioned for the Future
The 2025 finals proved that RLSD has built something bigger than a single competition. It has built a global community of advocates working to position leather as the sustainable material of choice for the future. By combining education, industry connections and genuine celebration of innovative design, RLSD is working to secure US leather’s place as a premium material for generations to come, while continuing to open new markets and new opportunities for the designers who choose to work with it.
The 2026 RLSD Student Design Competition is about to close for entries, ahead of the big final event in Bangkok, Thailand on October 29. There has already been a significant increase in the number of entries, with 1,1168 so far. More news is coming soon.
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