Shenkar College student takes top prize at Real Leather Stay Different finals with 'Neo-Heritage Tennis Club' collection.
The Real Leather Stay Different International Student Design Competition has named its 2026 winners following a runway presentation and awards ceremony at Jim Thompson House in Bangkok, Thailand. The event, designed to advance sustainable fashion practices among emerging designers, attracted participants from institutions around the world.
Tal Zohar, an Israeli designer from Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, claimed the overall victory with her collection 'Neo-Heritage Tennis Club'. Her designs merge visual elements from the 1920s and 1970s, translating tennis court lines and color schemes into contemporary sportswear forms.
Zohar's winning look featured a leather jacket quilted to evoke tennis racquet strings, worn with a pleated leather skirt constructed entirely from natural materials. The presentation included coordinating accessories: a sun visor and a leather ball bag.
"The brief challenges designers to think about a more sustainable future for fashion asking us to work only with leather and natural materials," Zohar said. "The strength and durability of leather and the growth of athleisure gave me both inspiration and audience."
The competition requires entries to incorporate natural fibres containing at least 50 percent bovine leather. It receives support from the Leather and Hide Council of America, a US trade association, alongside UK platform Arts Thread.
Christopher Koerber, managing director of Hugo Boss Ticino and a competition judge, praised the winning entry's balance of creativity and commercial viability. "Tal's work is what this competition is about; stunning design, commercial application and sustainable delivery," he said. "No plastics, no untried materials, just a showcase for slow style that is at home at the sports club as it is on the catwalk."
LHCA president Kerry Brozyna emphasized leather's environmental role in diverting hides—byproducts of meat and dairy production—from landfill. She noted that equipping emerging designers with technical knowledge about natural materials helps combat industry misinformation.
The judging panel also included Wasin Thumrongsakunvong of Interhides Public Company Limited; Polpat Asavaprapha of Asava Group and chairman of the Bangkok Fashion Society; New Balance innovation designer Ashin Zhou; and Adrien Roberts of Accademia Costume & Moda.