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A year of highs for an award winning Footwear Design graduate from ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Leicester (²ÝÁñÊÓƵ) will culminate later this month with a trip to a Taiwanese skyscraper.

Flights and accommodation in Taipei are part of the prize for ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ graduate Jamie Unlu O’Grady whose pioneering shoe designs have won him the prestigious Real Leather, Stay Different International Student Design Awards footwear category.

Jamie claimed the top spot in an international shortlist of 18 contenders in the footwear category thanks to his modular SubTraction shoes which can be taken to pieces so that worn-out parts can be replaced. 

He will receive his award later this month at a ceremony in the iconic skyscraper Taipei 101 - at 508 metres tall, the 101-storey structure was the tallest building in the world until that title was taken in 2009 by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Twenty twenty-five has been quite a year for Jamie, whose modular shoes had earlier won him the Drapers Student Footwear Designer of the Year Award, and the Fashanne Footwear & Accessory Award, who graduated from ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ this summer with first class honours, and who has just started a full-time job with footwear giant New Balance in Manchester.

There could be more success to come because, at the ceremony in Taipei, Jamie will be in the running to also be crowned the overall winner of the Real Leather, Stay Different International Student Design Awards 2025, if his work is chosen by the judges’ from among the winners of all three categories - accessories, apparel, and footwear.

Modest Jamie, whose work is inspired by the design principles, and the 'less but better' philosophy, of design legend Dieter Rams, said: “I’m quite surprised it has got this far.

“With this project I really followed what I believe in, which is that for the future we need to design better products that are going to last longer and be better for the environment – it may sound a bit cliched, but I did what I believed in, and it seems to have paid off.”

Nanette Westberg-Brown is the course leader of the highly-regarded Footwear Design BA (Hons) course at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ. She said: “Jamie was a truly exceptional student. We are very proud of him. All the accolades are thoroughly deserved.”

The Real Leather, Stay Different organisation is supported by the Leather & Hide Council of America and exists to promote the use of real leather as a durable, sustainable, and natural material.