Australian sheepskin footwear brand EverAU has announced the winners of its 2026 Student Design Award for Sheepskin Shoemaking, developed in partnership with RMIT University's School of Fashion and Textiles.
This marks the first collaboration of its kind between the two organisations.
The award, delivered as part of RMIT's ‘Partnered Project Work Integrated Learning’ course within the Bachelor of Fashion (Design), invited students to reimagine the Australian sheepskin boot as a contemporary design object. Four students – Lydie Taylor, Tianyin Yang, Madeleine Graham and Harrison Spunner – have been named recipients, with the winning designs set to move into production under the EverAU label.
The concepts span a range of design directions: a sheepskin ballet flat, a reinterpretation aimed at a Gen Z audience, and a material dialogue pairing oilskin with sheepskin to explore a land-to-sea narrative.
EverAU branding and marketing manager Tina Dong said the partnership with RMIT reflects a desire to reframe what Australian sheepskin footwear can represent.
"We've always felt that sheepskin footwear is more than just something people wear at home or after the beach. It's part of Australian culture, but it also has so much potential to evolve," she said.
"At a time when the identity of Australian sheepskin footwear is being discussed globally, we felt it was even more important to bring the focus back to design, culture, and the next generation shaping it."
Dong said the collaboration grew out of an earlier design award partnership with the Whitehouse Institute of Design, with EverAU connecting with RMIT in early 2025. "It felt like a very natural next step, and there was a shared excitement from both sides about what this collaboration could become."
The brand has flagged the partnership as an ongoing commitment rather than a one-off initiative, with Dong teasing a 2027 award return.
On the academic side, the project was coordinated by Sang Thai, lecturer in fashion design and coordinator of Fashion Design Partnered Projects at RMIT.
"We're thrilled for fashion design students to engage in collaborative partnered projects such as this, responding to real-world briefs that empower them to drive meaningful change as future leaders in the fashion industry," Thai said. "These projects bring together theory and practice in ways that reflect RMIT University's signature AAA pedagogy: active, applied and authentic."
Dr Alexandra Sherlock, also a lecturer in the Bachelor of Fashion (Design), said the brief invited students to engage with the sheepskin boot as a complex cultural object.
"Working with EverAU allowed students to explore how heritage footwear can be reimagined through contemporary design thinking, while maintaining respect for materials, techniques and stories."
For the student winners, the experience offered rare insight into industry practice. Madeleine Graham said the real-world brief gave the design process a tangible quality she hadn't encountered before. "Being part of this collaboration has strengthened my confidence as I approach graduation and feel prepared to transition into the industry," Graham said.
Tianyin Yang said the project helped shape her vision for her future in fashion: "It allowed me to experience what it's like to design within an industry context, while still exploring my own ideas around sustainability and craftsmanship."
Harrison Spunner, who has his sights set on a career in shoe design, said the exposure to a working footwear brand was particularly valuable.
"Collaborating with an established footwear company has been especially valuable to me," Spunner said. "The experience gave me insight into working alongside a real brand and helped me better understand the footwear industry and product development process."