Mr Leatherman Italia 2026: Luciano and the pride of a community… with many rooms

A few weeks after the election, not just the story of a victory: the meaning of a journey, of a responsibility and of a community that keeps building itself

There are moments that, when they happen, seem to ask for words straight away. An announcement, a photo, applause, a public thank-you. It is natural: the election of a new national title brings enthusiasm, energy, emotion. But there are also moments that deserve something different from an immediate communication. They deserve time. They deserve listening. They deserve that the emotion of the evening leave room for the deeper meaning of what happened.

That is why today, a few weeks later, we come back to the election of Luciano (@ThatBootedOne ), Mr Leather Italia 2026.

Not because that election is any less current. On the contrary: because, once the first wave of emotion has passed, we can look at it better. We can read it not only as the conclusion of an intense weekend, but as the beginning of a year of representation, relationship and community work. We can step out of the announcement of a victory and try to enter its meaning.

The Mr Leather Italia title is never just a sash, an official photo or an aesthetic recognition. It is a role that carries history, responsibility and presence. It means representing a culture, a community, a way of being in the world that interweaves identity, body, desire, discipline, belonging, care and freedom.

It also means accepting a challenge: to tell leather not as a closed image, not as a code for the few, not as nostalgia for an unmoving tradition, but as a living culture. A culture with deep roots, but that keeps speaking to the present. A culture able to welcome those who arrive, to question who remains at the margins, to build bridges between generations, territories, clubs, experiences and different sensibilities.

Luciano, in his message of thanks for the election, relies on words that we could call a personal manifesto, even before a message of thanks: words that speak of community, belonging, internationality, body positivity, inclusion, health, rights and the future.

“Last 9 May, in Rome, at Leather Club Roma, I was elected Mr Leather Italia 2026. A deep and genuine emotion, coming at the end of an intense weekend, full of energy and made even more special by the warmth, the support and the presence of our community.

I wish to express a sincere and heartfelt thank-you to the jury for the trust it placed in me, for the attention and sensitivity with which it evaluated my journey. An equally important thanks goes to all the people who supported and voted for me: your support is for me not only an honour, but also a responsibility that I carry forward with great respect.

My journey is made of curiosity, listening and a genuine passion for leather and fetish culture, which I live every day with naturalness, transparency and pride. Being chosen as a representative of the community is for me a concrete commitment: to give voice, value and continuity to what we are, together.

My passion was born gradually: at first it was an aesthetic attraction to boots, to the smell and the sensations of leather, discovered for the first time in Finland. Over time I understood it was something deeper: today leather is for me a second skin, a way to express myself and to feel part of a brotherhood.

I ran because I felt the need to give something back to the community, after years lived mostly abroad. I wanted to bring this experience to Italy too and to represent not only leather, but the values of inclusivity, openness and solidarity. My goal is to be a real presence: more a brother among people than a social media image.

I imagine a more united Italian community, able to collaborate across clubs and territories, overcoming fragmentation. I would like to promote social activities to reduce prejudice, make it easier for younger people to come in and support a body-positive culture. At the same time, I want to strengthen international ties, share experiences and show that the Italian scene is alive, aware and ready for dialogue on topics such as health, rights and culture.

Leather is my home, but it is a home with many rooms. I have a strong passion for boots, from military combat boots to rangers, which I consider a natural extension of the leather aesthetic, and I am also exploring the world of rubber with curiosity, fascinated by the possible cross-contaminations.

In daily life I don't always show myself explicitly, but I carry leather inside me: it is an attitude, made of discipline, bearing and small details that can speak to those who know this language, always with discretion.

The biggest challenge of my year will be breaking down prejudice, including that inside the community. I want to help create a more welcoming environment, where there is no single “right” way to be leather, but where everyone can feel part of something, regardless of experience or of what they wear, without losing the link with tradition.

My wish is that the community keeps growing as an inclusive space, where no one feels excluded or intimidated. A place able to look to the future without forgetting its roots, attentive to rights, health and information, and where everyone can live their identity with pride, courage and also a touch of irony.

So, a few weeks after the election, the meaning of the title, as Luciano is getting ready to live it, appears even clearer. Once the emotion of the evening has passed, what remains is the beginning of a journey: not just a sash to wear, but a responsibility to live within the community.

His message tells of an idea of representation that is close, concrete, made of presence more than image. Luciano imagines a more united Italian leather community, able to collaborate across clubs and territories, to welcome those who approach for the first time and to overcome rigidity, prejudice and fragmentation.

His image of leather as a “home with many rooms” expresses this direction well: to safeguard tradition without closing the doors, to value history without turning it into a border, to recognise different ways of living belonging, desire, body and identity.

It is an image that recalls the path of Leather Club Roma in its 27 years of activism: building spaces where visibility, consent, respect, body positivity, health and community care are not abstract words, but daily practices.

To Luciano therefore goes our most sincere wish: that his year as Mr Leather Italia 2026 be a year of encounters, listening, pride and presence and that, even with the right dose of fun and lightness, the title continue to be not just a sash, but a voice able to walk inside the community.