The Fashion Footwear Association of New York (FFANY) & ARSUTORIA School in Milan, Italy proudly announce the winner and finalists of the 2017 Joseph C. Moore Footwear Scholarship, in honor of Joseph C. Moore, former president and CEO of FFANY. Den Ly from the Fashion Institute of Technology was the scholarship winner and the second place winner is from Garland.
Rebecca Drobinski, a 2013 honor graduate of Garland High School, Girl Scout Gold Award winner and current student at Parsons – The New School of Design was awarded second place and will receive the opportunity to attend the ARSUTORIA 5-day intensive course on footwear fundamentals and the “Art of Traditional Shoemaking.” The class will be held in New York in July and is valued at $2500.
Dobrinski’s family is happy about her success.
“We are so very proud of her,” Rebecca’s mother Sally Land-Dobrinski, said.
In addition, the top six finalists will receive the ARSUTORIA E-learning course valued at $600. This innovative method of training, which focuses on shoemaking and technical aspects, is being utilized by many footwear companies to give their employees a structural base before moving on to a more hands-on direct experience.
The judging committee was comprised of 5 footwear industry veterans: Joe Moore, Keith Brown, president, Private Label at Camuto Group, Dan Friedman, president, Global Sourcing & Supply Chain at Caleres, Jim Gabriel, president, Footwear Division at Global Brands and Wendy Sani, senior director of International Course Development at ARSUTORIA.
Den, along with Drobinski and the third place winner, will be honored at the FFANY Industry event May 31 at Bryant Park Grill in New York City, during the FFANY market to be held May 31 –June 2. The winners affiliated school faculty will also be invited to attend the presentation along with the footwear industry.
ARSUTORIA School, an international institute of footwear and leather goods design, created the Joseph C. Moore Scholarship in 2015 to honor their friend and longtime advocate, Joe Moore. The scholarship was created to recognize Joe for his continuous support in helping young designers and impassioned footwear members of the new generation to be more prepared for the challenges of today’s industry.
About ARSUTORIA School: For over 60 years, the ARSUTORIA School, located in Milan, Italy, has been a pioneer in the field of technical training in pattern making and footwear development. Originally, courses were intended to train footwear pattern makers in the factories located in the Milan area.
About FFANY: FFANY seeks to grow and serve a vibrant, global footwear industry, where doing business in New York is profitable and easy for its membership and where the industry strengthens through education and unites in charity.
FFANY’s signature fundraising event, FFANY Shoes on Sale, has distributed over $52 million for first-step breast cancer research since its inception in 1993.
About Joseph C. Moore: Joseph C. Moore, honoree of the ARSUTORIA Footwear Scholarship, retired in 2014 as the President and CEO of the Fashion Footwear Association of New York (FFANY) and Chairman of Fashion Footwear Charitable Foundation (FFCF). Moore has been a distinguished force in the footwear industry as a business leader and benefactor. Starting in a family owned children’s store while attending university, he followed onto Bullocks, Los Angeles then to Neiman Marcus where he introduced the Salvatore Ferragamo and Charles Jourdan lines. Moore became President and CEO of Charles Jourdan USA then held positions at Saks Fifth Avenue where he achieved substantial success.