Iowa State fashion program shines with national awards in St. Louis

Creative and technical design student Samantha Huynh received the inaugural Schofield Emerging Designer Award in the undergraduate student category for her work, SCAURA, along with her mentor, associate professor Rachel Eike.

“I was extremely ecstatic to be selected, especially knowing how competitive it is just to be accepted into the exhibition,” Huynh said. “It is truly such an honor, and I felt immense pride in myself and the incredible fashion program here at Iowa State.”

Huynh said her award-winning bag was developed when she was a junior as part of a soft goods and product development course taught by Eike, where students created leather alternatives using recycled fibers from the program’s circular fashion initiative and traditional papermaking techniques. Her final design was inspired by the primitive, raw quality of the experimental material.

“Samantha created SCAURA as part of my senior capstone course on Innovative Fashion Product Development,” Eike said. “The goal of the course is for students to rethink materials, value systems, and waste as part of circular design. Samantha fully embraced that challenge.”

Another noteworthy honoree was associate professor Ling Zhang who earned the 2025 ITAA Teaching Excellence Award and received three additional honors for scholarly work.

“I am truly honored to receive the ITAA Teaching Excellence Award,” Zhang said. “This recognition reflects not only my work, but also the strong academic reputation and leadership of the Iowa State Fashion Design and Merchandising program.”