Retail attitudes to leather: A mixed picture

Carletonville, Gauteng, SA – Mohammed Laher, sole proprietor of 6-store mini-chain Textile Wholesalers, said leather remained a priority for his customers.
He said formal footwear – which is all leather – was “a much smaller category than before”, but that “the better end of casual footwear is predominantly leather, too”.
Less than half of his casual leather footwear is imported, from Turkey and Italy. The balance is local brands.

Luca Bonadei, GM, Cape Union Mart
Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – We are a proud seller of leather footwear in South Africa. As a customer-centric retailer, we know our customers appreciate the investment in leather, due to the many benefits it offers over leather substitutes:  Comfort, durability, permeability and repairability.
Furthermore, we are very proud supporter of South African industry and SMEs. This includes supporting leather as a byproduct of the meat industry, as well as buying from strategic local suppliers of ours, such as Woodheads (for sheepskin slippers), Bolton, and Eddels. They are able to offer us flexibility and shorter lead times in production, and they provide much-needed jobs for South Africans.
With regards to customer concerns around animal welfare, we find the demand for “vegan leather” or PU substitutes, to be a very tiny minority, even in our relatively affluent customer base. That said, where we have innovated to offer leather substitutes, we prefer natural fibres such as cotton canvas. We have even sold shoes in Pinatex ™, a fabric made from the byproduct of the pineapple canning industry. We will always aim to sell alternatives to leather, in a balanced assortment of footwear, but according to customer demand.

Nigel, Gauteng, SA – Bergstan Outfitters cc, which has around 20 women’s clothing stores selling mostly to lower income consumers aged 35 and up, used to sell leather footwear and leather handbags, but stopped about 10 years ago, member Stanley Berger said.
“Yes, our customers do like leather, but they can’t afford it,” he said. “Leather has become very expensive, and I’m not prepared to stock it because it won’t sell.”