Cordwainers Footwear Awards to go ahead
The UK’s main student footwear design competition, the Cordwainers Footwear Awards, will, once again, go ahead digitally in 2021.
This means that, in spite of covid-19, young designers at three universities around the country will still be able to benefit from what the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers has called “this career-defining event”. The universities represented are De Montfort University in Leicester, the University of Northampton and London College of Fashion at University of the Arts.
Cordwainers is one of the City of London’s liveried companies, or ancient trading guilds. The company established the awards to support the future of the shoe industry by celebrating and encouraging young footwear talent. This year, the awards will include a new category for sustainability. The prizes on offer have a combined value of £12,000.
Previous winners, including Helen Kirkum, Meta Cunder and Ganor Dominic, are making their mark on the industry, the organisers said, having used their prize money to fund further education in footwear design or start their own footwear design businesses.
Master of the Company, Peter Lamble, said: “Last year the Cordwainers Footwear Awards were one of the few not to be cancelled and the first to move into the digital space in response to covid-19. After a more than challenging year, the 2021 Awards are just as important. I am proud that they are once again going ahead digitally. They embody the Company’s core purpose: demonstrating our ongoing commitment to supporting the footwear industry and student footwear designers.”
