Apprentices, not graduates

Some time has passed now since the world has heard that Nene College (aka the University of Northampton's Institute for Creative Leather Technologies, ICLT) is to close. This is an unmitigated disaster, and the industry is thinking of the staff (past and present) who have poured their hearts and souls into that department who are now due to leave their jobs. Plans are underway to try and rescue the situation with De Montfort University, a possible successor, that could save the industry from a difficult situation.

It is a useful time to consider how this happened, is blame necessary, or is history a valuable teacher in this situation. In terms of blame, doing so is unhelpful, it alienates the ones getting blamed, is not going to change the situation, and the situation is so unique that “learning” from it is a once-in-a-generation situation that few people reading this will be in the position to influence in the future.

How did leather education die?
A brief history of leather education globally is helpful. Formalised leather education started globally at the end of the 19th Century. Leather science was born in the UK, US, and Europe with notable academics like Procter, Atkins, Wolstenholme, Wilson (to name a few) recording scientific considerations that could influence tanning quality.
The Procter department in Leeds, the Leathersellers College in London, Northampton Technical College, and Lederinstitut Gerberschule Reutlingen were prominent schools that originated early on to formally begin the “schooling” of technicians who were going to go out and join the industry as thinking influencers. It is also useful to acknowledge that there were also academics and scientists who joined the industry to help solve problems, like Shuttleworth. Departments at colleges in China, India, France, Brazil, Italy, and Spain had also started in the 20th Century to support growing industries.
In the latter part of the 20th Century, there was amalgamation of the UK departments into Nene College (the British School of Leather Technology, BSLT) and a shift towards degree programmes. LIRI itself had moved from a Block Release Course model into an MSc in Leather Science and even had two students who joined a BSc (Hon) in Leather Technology before it closed in 1999. The famous City and Guilds in the UK stopped doing an apprenticeship-type Block Release programme before the end of the 20th century. In the early 2000s and beyond the global programmes focussed on producing graduates with Northampton focussing on “What is leather?” to encourage fashion and brand interest - with no doubt that there is such a need for understanding leather in the end-user and value-chain. Bluntly put, the “What is leather?” experiment killed off the leather programme at the universities with tanneries voting with their feet - helped by Brexit and high cost of education in the UK.

The mighty 1920s to 1950s
It is useful to remember why the UK, SA, and German leather departments were created. In From Riempies to Fashion Shoes, Shuttleworth gives the reader an insight into why, in part, LIRI was created: “It is an historical fact that the leaders of the footwear industry…were striving to set a pattern for the future not only of their own industry but also for manufacturing as a whole…” Industry leaders could see how leather and its products could benefit from investment in research and development, and training. Very little is mentioned in that enlightened little book about education. The difference being that education involves a well-rounded set of skills that is not specific to the day-to-day job, and training being very focussed knowledge transfer - specifically skills development. LIRI was created to solve problems of the wattle industry, the footwear industry, and a growing leather industry - often through training.
By the 1950s, the leather industry, and the footwear industry, were reaching their peaks. In the UK, SATRA, and the BLMRA was producing top-class research and was allowing its membership to benefit from a myriad of benefits that added value to their company procedures. Young people were recruited into the organisations across the sector as young apprentices and were given the level of skill through on-the-job training, or if they were lucky, would be sent to the local leather college for some practical training. The trainers at these schools were generally retiring professionals willing to give back.

1970s and decline
Following the trajectory of LIRI and the UK leather industry, the pathway of decline started in the late 70s. The 3 UK leather schools decide to coalesce in response to declining revenue, retiring staff, and the need to put dwindling students into one unified school. Under Sharphouse, the Leathersellers tannery was built at the new Nene College Park Campus and BSLT lost Sharphouse in retirement and the move. Sharphouse was devoted to the industry, and he is replaced by Dr Dick Roy, a chemist and academic. The last piece of the puzzle clicks into place - the head of school is no longer a tanner. BSLT/ICLT was headed from 2003 to 2023 by Dr Gordon Paul (biologist), Dr Paul Richardson (chemist), Dr Mark Wilkinson (product designer), Rachel Garwood (biologist/value chain), Vicki Dean (fashion designer), and Dr Will Wise (chemist). With full respect for the Heads after Sharphouse, this did not mean that they were not fanatical and passionate about the school, but in the author’s opinion they had never worked in tanneries and therefore could not understand what it meant to be a tanner and what tanners really needed.
The industry after the 1970s experienced globalism, a decline of the leather industry in the West, and funding streams for a “dirty” industry started to dry up. The most notable funding decline was progressively in the industry itself with the industry becoming less philanthropic (especially to help other companies) and more self-centred. The membership model of industry organisations dwindled, and if any research got done it was usually in the chemical or machinery companies, or as single-client private research (not publicly shown). Consequently, since the 1970s there is a palpable decline in the quality of leather scientists, who largely become chemists, competent, but naive about tannery application.

The next generation
The next group of tanners will not be schooled in a bricks and mortar tanning school - those days are gone. Many tanners came from other industries or were apprentices from an early age - like Helmut Beutel (the famous tanner from Eagle Ottawa). For the global leather industry, it is worthwhile returning to a deglobalized, regional model where the focus is on a regional industry that needs to solve regional problems. It is helpful to think of how easily available knowledge can be placed into a training package that can be serviced and maintained by local people - the local economy and local industry benefit. Taking on young people who are willing to make a future, through apprenticeships, who learn company specific skills that may diminish their employability but will allow companies to have a higher return on investment - something that is currently lacking in company-sponsored education.

In the next issue: Artificial intelligence - the era of low-skilled cognitive work is about to disappear. The next S&V African Leather article will be generated by AI and the author of the article will edit it. The reader will see what AI is capable of and what editors in the future will be doing. Low skilled intelligentsia will be without a job - no jokes.