Last week we had the privilege of attending another Graduate Fashion Week event, and that meant that we were once again sponsoring the prestigious Footwear Design Award through our size?syllabus project.

Taking place at Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross, London on Wednesday 22^nd June, this event brought together a range of footwear enthusiasts from far and wide as we decided which contestant would win the award.

Throughout the day, there was a tough judging phase, as we made the almost impossible decision of who would win the award, while there was also a GFW Live! Talk, plus an awards ceremony with a size?sessions from SALO.

The judges – Dan Langhorn (Senior Talent and Community Manager), Cameron Poole (Senior Social Media Executive), Samantha Goreteski (Brand Marketing Director, Vans EMEA) and Samuel Hennessy (Footwear SMU Designer, Vans EMEA) – spent the day analysing each one of the amazing projects.

There was everything from innovative ideas on sustainability, outlandish design processes, slow fashion principles and loads more. After some thought, the judges came to their decision – we are proud to announce Matthew Jones as the winner of the Footwear Design Award in 2022 for his amazing project.

Matthew’s project focused on combatting the distinct lack of gender egalitarianism within sports performance footwear. Throughout this pitch, Matthew highlights key issues, such as the injury-inducing effects of current footwear and tweaks needed for female anatomy. Matthew has also referenced the 2022 Qatar World Cup and the architecture of the stadiums as an inspiration for his designs, while recognising the humanitarian issues surrounding the process of building the stadiums.

Before this was announced, there was an amazing GFW Live! Talk hosted by Jasmine Douglas (transatlanticbabe/babesonwaves), with Dan Langhorn and Samuel Hennessy, taking place at the Samsung KX building. This covered how they made it into the fashion industry and what they’re doing to empower the next generation. They also covered their favourite design projects and how they work with briefs to come up with a new shoe concept.

We’d like to also give a special shoutout to all the other amazing contestants who got to the final stage. Sam Lilley, Innes Thomson, Rosie Holt, Sam Clegg, Edwina Arthurs, Alexander Cho, Luke Angell, Bethany Oakey, Dickson-Adjei Agyekum, Georgia Wintle, Yinglin Xu. You can check out all of their projects here.

While you were here, have a scroll through some snaps from the event…