Best of APLF award winners announced

17 April 2012



Fifteen exhibitors at the Materials, Manufacturing & Technology (MM&T) and Fashion Access fairs, held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, were presented with the Best of APLF Awards (BOAA) in ceremonies on March 28, attended by members of the leather and fashion industries.


Big winner of the night for Fashion Access was Chinese company, Star Vincci, which ran off with the awards for Best Bag Collection and Best Stand. Their woody and warm ambiance was the perfect background for their high-quality collection of bags and weekenders that cleverly mixed various materials such as leather, lace and felt.

For MM&T, the competition had some of the world’s best tanneries competing for the Best New Leather and Best Fashion Leather awards. Besting other wonderful entries from Turkey, Italy, Spain, and India was Heller-Leder of Germany’s cow leather featuring their innovative tanning process using waste olive leaves, resulting in an eco-friendly yet luxurious leather.

The Best Fashion Leather Collection came from Colomer Moda of Spain whose wide range of designs, colours, finishes and textures was considered by the BOAA judges as the most creative and best adapted to various fashion applications.

A new award was for Best Exotic Leather which was given to Nova Kaeru of Brazil for its Amazonian Pirarucu fish leather. Pirarucu is the largest scale fish in the Amazon River and is the world’s largest freshwater fish. One fish can yield up to 70 kilograms of meat. Nova Kaeru has taken this ancient fish species and created beautifully coloured and rich leather suitable for bags, shoes and garments.

For footwear, the men’s dress shoes collection by Regal Japan got the nod of the judges. Adjudged best ladies’ collection was the initial footwear offering of Gaya Canada, last year’s winner of Best Bag Collection. Gaya’s shoes utilised graphics and architectural heels

The Corga line of origami-esque keyholders, wallets and small cases won for Ruboa of Japan the Best Small Leathergoods prize. The Italian company, Alta Moda Belt, took the prize for Best Fashion Accessories Collection with their wide range of trendy belt styles and colours.

The hands-on winner of the Best Travel & Lifestyle Product Award was the Baby Travel Bag of Wunderbar, Germany. This high-utility yet fashionable bag has every pocket and compartment a mother needs to transport all her baby things with ease.

Soft and supple leather was the material of choice in Stephanie Vaille’s chic garment collection. Her stylish, beautifully cut and sewn leather ensembles are ‘must-haves’ in any fashionista’s wardrobe.

The Best in Marketing and Promotions award went to Taiwan’s Khieng Atelier whose cohesive and design-driven marketing collateral and packaging gave strong definition to their brand.

Rounding off the Fashion Access winners was Tsar Asia of Malaysia whose designer, Wan Sariah Wan Jaafar, was recognised for her Creative Reinterpretation of Traditional Design that resulted in a contemporary collection of bags and shoes that pays tribute to the themes and motifs of West Africa.

Tabru of Italy was cited for having the Best Man-Made Materials Collection. Components Collection which went to the luxury metal and bejewelled belt buckles and trims of By Mora Accessories of Italy. The Best Technical Component prize was awarded to Rhenoflex of Germany for their shoe counters and top ups made using a new powder technology that minimises materials wastage and provides excellent performance.

For more information on Best of APLF Awards, visit www.aplf.com 



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