S&V Footwear & Leather Goods Magazine Vol88 No1 January 2022
This Magazine is sponsored by SAFLIA
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IN THIS ISSUE:
03 Focus Sector
- Sneakers: If local manufacturing is to grow, it must find a way of getting into this market.
05 The U.S. Market
- Top 5 retail trends to watch in the new year.
06 Sector Reports
- Safety footwear - BBF: Championing local manufacturing in workplace safety solutions.
10 Components
- Logomotif: Branding made visible.
11 Logistics
- The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is developing IT solutions to counter supply bottlenecks.
12 Sustainability
- Huntsman and Shincell create fully recyclable TPU foam for footwear.
13 Italy
- Recovery led by branded exports.
13 Fairs & Events
- Première Vision appoints fashion director.
14 Notice Board
- Nigel Plumpton obituary: The best times in life were around the campfire.
- Chris Bezuidenhout obituary: The Cross Trainer mourns the loss of its GM.
- Ron MacNiven obituary: A corporate man with a rebellious sense of humour.
Advertisers in this Issue
BBF Safety Group (OFC), Caterpillar / Medicus Footwear (05), Freestyle Genuine Handcrafted Leather (02), Italtan (below), S&V Calendar (10), S&V Diretory (11), SA Footwear & Leather Export Council (07), Saddler Belts (06), Soft Wear (04).
In The Next Issue:
- Innovative manufacturers: New ideas, new looks, new ways of doing things.
Out on February 4
- BBF: Championing local manufacturing in workplace safety solutionsPinetown, KZN, SA - BBF Safety Group is an integrated workplace safety solutions provider that helps customers create safe working environments. BBF was formed on the basis of championing local manufacturing, procurement and SMME development – an objective more relevant now to get the South African economy back on its feet tha ...moreLogomotif: Branding made visibleCape Town, W. Cape, SA - Logomotif, founded in 1997 and 25 years old this year, is an entirely South African business and the only local manufacturer of the moulded branding trims it produces. It has a wide range of branded customers, including clothing and footwear manufacturers. Its custom-made PVC moulded products for clothing, f ...moreHuntsman and Shincell create fully recyclable TPU foam for footwearThe Woodlands, Texas, USA – Huntsman has developed a new thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), which is fully recyclable, UV protected and can be extruded into a film and then easily expanded into foamed sheets. The special grade of Irogan TPU was developed by Huntsman, in conjunction with the Shincell New Material Company Ltd, which is ...morePremière Vision: Desolina Suter appointed fashion directorParis, France - This month, Desolina Suter has joined the Première Vision team as fashion director. Of dual French/Italian origin, she is an expert in materials, colours and trends, and has been Première Vision’s fashion correspondent in Italy for nearly 15 years. She will be in charge of coordinating the Premi&e ...moreObituary: Nigel Plumpton: The best times in life were around the campfireObituary: Nigel Plumpton - CNB Industries (29/04/1949-29/10/2021) ...moreObituary: Chris Bezuidenhout - The cross trainer mourns the loss of GMObituary: Chris Bezuidenhout - The Cross Trainer (11/12/1951-16/12/2021) Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA - Frame Leisure Trading, T/A The Cross Trainer, is saddened to announce the passing of its beloved General Manager, Chris Bezuidenhout. “Chris spearheaded many businesses, with the inclusion of taking our company and facili ...moreObituary: Ron MacNiven - Bata, Edworks, Decofurn (24/09/1944-09/01/2022) - A corporate man with a rebellious sense of humourDurban, KZN, SA - Ron arrived in the then Rhodesia from Scotland as a schoolboy. He kept his Scottish accent throughout his life, which I teased him about. I met him in the late 1960s when he was one of Bata's retail shop managers in the then Salisbury. Through various promotions, he became retail personnel m ...moreHandmade Espadril: A touch of the MedPatricia Terre is Spanish. With local Rizqah Isaacs, she co-founded Handmade Espadril in 2014. She studied fashion styling at Central Saint Martins in London and both worked in retail with first line and luxury brands for years. "We lived surrounded by some of the most exclusive brands in the world, which taught us everything we know ...moreIT solutions for stable supply chainsThe Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, headquartered in Germany, describes itself as the world’s leading applied research organization, and we frequently carry its reports in S&V Footwear & Leather Goods' sister publication, S&V Protect. This report, however, is pertinent for all our publications. ...moreItaly: Recovery led by brand exportsFootwear industry: double-digit recovery in 2021 (turnover +16.2% over 12 months, according to the earliest projections) despite a -10 to -15% gap compared to 2019. Recovery is uneven: the big names are making great progress, while 2 out of 3 companies close the year with revenues below pre-Covid levels. Uncertainty is caused by a fresh o ...more
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Footwear Industry Articles
- The showroom pair is not the orderA shoe on a showroom table is wonderfully persuasive. A buyer can flex the forefoot, press the heel counter, check the stitching, compare the two shoes and turn the pair over to examine the sole. Colour, finish and hand feel are all there to judge.The purchase order may then reduce that pair to a short line: one style number, one colour d ...moreNew generation nonwoven components lead the way towards biodegradable shoesCompostable and biodegradable footwear is becoming a reality.The nova-Institut für politische und ökologische Innovation GmbH in Hürth, Germany, has published an updated version of its poster, 'Biodegradable Polymers in Various Environments', and project manager Kristijan Mršić told Shoes & Views that several of ...moreHow FootJoy’s superbly crafted shoes influenced my lifeAn Informative & Nostalgic Letter written in April 2025 to two executives at Acushnet (USA) – A leading golf corporation which includes FootJoy Shoes.RE: FootJoy & II recall the very first pair of FootJoy golf shoes my late father bought for me in July 1976. This wasn’t my first interaction with the brand that I had al ...more
Leather Industry Articles
- Zimbabwe Leather Development Council lobbies for Government contractsThe Zimbabwe Leather Development Council (ZLDC) is lobbying policymakers to open up public procurement contracts to local leather manufacturers, arguing that Government contracts are essential to reviving the country’s struggling leather value chain.Speaking on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe Industrialisation Conference and Expo (ZIC ...moreLuxury or notWe hear from all sides that the leather industry is not doing too well and the conflict in the Middle East is definitely not improving the situation. The present wars have a huge impact on inflation and hence on the buying power of consumers with negative consequences for the luxury industry whose shares we have seen tumbling at the vario ...moreNigeria’s Leather Industry: Not a clear pictureNigeria is widely accepted as having a very large livestock population, but a relatively small tanning industry, much of it concentrated in Kano, producing high grade goat- and sheepskin crust which is exported for finishing elsewhere for use in garments.Recent articles cast some doubt on this, so are Nigeria’s hides and skins: M ...more
PPE Industry Articles
- Further controls over the import of safety footwear are on the wayOn 03 August 2026, the Safety Footwear Working Group, led by SAFLIA, submitted a request to Minister Tau (dtic) for interim import control measures in respect of specified safety footwear. The request was strongly supported by organised labour and other industry stakeholders.The application was further strengthened by contributions f ...moreMore precise fire extinguishing from the air using simulation and sensor dataWildfires are becoming more frequent and more intense worldwide. Fires often become infernos due to heat, drought and wind, especially in the summer. The problem is compounded by the climate crisis. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM and the startup CAURUS Technologies GmbH are responding to this growi ...moreObituary: Colin Battle, agent (17/04/1957-27/07/2026): Our sales trips were a whole life experienceDearest Lee, Greg & Sammy,I send my sincerest condolences & wishes of long and healthy lives to all of you, after the passing of your beloved Colin. I’ve no doubt that once the pain of losing an adored husband and father starts to subside, you will be left the glorious memories of your lives together with a most wonderful an ...more
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