Leather Industry Articles

Land use and land use change (LULUC) refers to the study area in general – that is the study of how global land use change (commonly through human intervention) results in increased atmospheric emissions. The obvious emission is that if the forest is burnt, the emissions are directly released into the atmosphere. However, the change ...more

IntroductionEnzymatic bating is an important part of the leather making process. Bating enzymes help remove unwanted skin components from the hide structure, as well as any scud present on the grain layer. Good bating leads to clean, soft leather. Under bating results in poor removal of unwanted skin components, and a firmer crust leather ...more

This month we are delighted to announce the beginning of a new programme, being funded by the Leather & Hide Council of America as part of the US Regional Agricultural Programme. ...more

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA (25 October 2024) – The Department of Agriculture has announced that the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak, which occurred during 2021-2022, has been successfully resolved in the North West, Free State, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga Provinces. These provinces, which were initially impacted by the outbreak, have n ...more

It’s the middle-class market, not the rich, where the real money isAlthough I fully realise that luxury is a very important factor for the leather industry, I believe that we focus too much on this particular sector, and forget the day-to-day use of leather. There aren’t too many people who can afford a €100 000 bag, a &e ...more

Boksburg, Gauteng, SA – Rolfes Leather and the other 4 divisions which collectively make up the Rolfes Group have been acquired by the Solevo Group, a pan-African distributor of specialty chemicals.In a statement, Solevo said it had bought 100% of Rolfes Group in a deal backed by Solevo’s owner, London-based Development Partne ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Gert Bosch and Arné Husselman left TST Agencies earlier this year.Bosch started Bosch Technical Services (Pty) Ltd (BTS), which began trading on 01 March, servicing the tanning industry. He represents a number of principals including some formerly represented by TST.Husselman has left the industry and ...more

Africa, specifically South Africa, leads the world in the traceability of leather, especially crocodilian and ostrich leather. Created decades ago, the trace and tracking system adapted for the high value exotic skins was implemented to prevent skin theft, and to monitor the value of skins (to enable the final payment to co-operative farm ...more

Perhaps not quite ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’, but ‘natural’ materials have more in common with each other than with the arch enemy, plastics ...more

Last month’s SLF article focused on the future of automotive leather and the changes being felt in the sector. This month, the focus is more generally around the crossroads that leather finds itself at, trying to hold on to the heritage of being one of the oldest industries on earth, while at the same time needing to be an industry of the future. ...more