Uganda’s Apparel Category Winner 2024, Eddie Louis Ochom, embodied creative courage and persistence. Through deeply personal and concept-driven work, he showed how leather can move beyond fashion into storytelling, positioning Ugandan design firmly within Africa’s most compelling contemporary voices. Photo: Courtesy, RLSD Africa.
The fourth edition of the Real Leather. Stay Different. Africa (RLSD Africa) Talent Leather Design Showcase has officially been launched, marking a significant milestone in Africa’s growing influence within the global conversation on responsible, design-led and sustainable fashion.
Uganda’s impact within RLSD Africa has been defined by consistency and depth, culminating in a major milestone in 2024 when Eddie Louis Ochom won the Apparel Category Award. A three-time participant and recurrent Top 15 finalist, Ochom exemplifies the platform’s emphasis on long-term creative development rather than one-off success. Uganda’s continued presence highlights the role of RLSD Africa in nurturing designers whose work combines emotional narrative, material intelligence and durability, reinforcing the country’s growing voice in continental leather design.
Anchored within the international Real Leather. Stay Different. campaign, the 2026 edition builds on six years of global engagement that has reached thousands of designers and students across dozens of countries. In Africa, the initiative has evolved from a regional competition into a continental platform—one that increasingly positions African designers as contributors shaping global standards rather than participants seeking validation.
More than a competition, RLSD Africa has matured into a movement redefining how creativity, value and sustainability intersect within Africa’s fashion and design landscape. The platform celebrates leather’s beauty, versatility, strength and durability, while providing designers with a credible and structured environment in which to demonstrate originality, craftsmanship and responsible production. As the programme enters its fourth year on the continent, it reflects a shift from visibility to influence—placing African design voices firmly within global sustainability debates.
Education remains central to the RLSD Africa approach. Through targeted engagement, the programme equips designers with a deeper understanding of leather as a natural material derived from hides that are by-products of the meat and dairy industries. This framing challenges simplified sustainability narratives by grounding design decisions in material science, lifecycle performance and long-term value creation. By recognising and rewarding innovation, RLSD Africa continues to serve as a launch-pad for designers seeking to build meaningful careers and sustainable businesses across the leather value chain.
Beyond the competition itself, RLSD Africa has cultivated a growing network of continental ambassadors—designers empowered to advocate for responsible leather craftsmanship and long-lasting design. At its core, the initiative champions Slow Fashion, directly challenging the wastefulness of fast fashion by promoting high-quality leather products designed to endure rather than to be replaced. This philosophy has gained renewed relevance as the global fashion industry confronts excess, disposability and environmental impact.
Speaking at the launch of the 2026 edition, Kerry Brozyna, President of the Leather and Hide Council of America, underscored Africa’s evolving role within the sustainability discourse. He noted that as RLSD Africa enters its fourth year on the continent, Africa is no longer engaging from the margins but actively helping to define the conversation. Leather, he explained, demonstrates responsibility and longevity in practice—a renewable raw material from the food industry, transformed through skill and craftsmanship into products made to last—and RLSD Africa exists to elevate this truth through design.
Echoing this perspective, Nicholas Mudungwe, Executive Director of the Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute, emphasised the platform’s structural importance. He observed that RLSD Africa has matured into a continental mechanism linking design, industry and policy, playing a catalytic role as Africa advances its leather value chains. By translating raw potential into globally competitive, sustainable products, the initiative anchors value creation firmly in African talent.
The RLSD Africa Talent Leather Design Showcase 2026 is open to designers aged 18 and above across three categories—Apparel, Accessories and Footwear. Registration and design submissions open on February 2, 2026, with submissions closing on June 5, 2026. Selected designs will be announced on June 26, followed by the submission of physical products between July 3 and August 7, 2026. All entries must incorporate a minimum of 50 percent cowhide leather by surface area and prioritise natural materials wherever possible, with fur and exotic skins strictly prohibited. Designs are evaluated holistically, reinforcing the programme’s emphasis on durability, functionality and long-term value.
The credibility of RLSD Africa is reinforced by its recent track record. Over the past three years, the platform has produced Most Commendable Designers whose work has gained international recognition. Ethiopia’s Ruth Girmay, awarded Most Commendable Designer in both 2023 and 2024, and Farida Eid, awarded in 2025, have each represented Africa on global RLSD stages—demonstrating the programme’s ability to translate continental talent into international visibility.
As RLSD Africa enters its fourth edition, the initiative stands as a clear statement of intent. It is no longer solely about identifying talent, but about building systems that connect creativity to industry, sustainability to economic opportunity, and African design to global relevance. In doing so, RLSD Africa continues to position African leather design at the centre of global conversations on fashion, responsibility and value—not as an emerging voice, but as one built to endure.
