S&V African Leather Magazine Vol17 No11 November 2023
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IN THIS ISSUE:
02 Sam Setter’s ‘Pills’
- A new quip from Sam Setter in each issue.
04 Upfront
- Wet blue: Brits Leathers contract tanning only, says Willem Ebersohn.
- Footwear upper leathers: Loss of a wet blue supplier a concern, but Fusion ‘cautiously optimistic’, says Denzil Spolander.
- Crocodile: A lesson from the lower end – when standards go up, they become entrenched, but prices don’t necessarily follow, says Le Croc’s Stefan van As.
- Game skins: Navigating the complex non-trade aspects of the CITES trade convention, says SATTA’s Pieter Swart.
- Game skins: Legacy Exotic Leather plans small plant for top quality, says Johnny Kleynhans, who also comments on ‘problem animal’ control.
10 An Eclectic View
- Powered by the Sun: Solar power can address both sustainability issues and SA’s electricity problems, by H. Procter.
14 Decoding Tanning Science
- The effect of calcium concentration in delimed hides on the efficiency of bating, by the ISTT’s Dr Clive Jackson-Moss.
16 Weights & Measures
- Compiled by the ISTT.
17 Notice Board
- Geoff Holmes is the new vice president of the IULTCS..
18 Trade Statistics
- SA hides, skins, and leather trade statistics for September 2023, issued by SARS.
Advertisers in this Issue
APLF (03), Authenticae (05), Cape Karoo International (07), Evolution Engineering (01), International School of Tanning Technology (ISTT) (09), Mimosa (11), Rolfes Leather Division (13), S&V Calendar (08), S&V Directory (17), Southern African Footwear & Leather Export Council (SAFLEC) (14), Stahl (OFC), Sustainable Leather Foundation (02).
The Next Issue
- The January issue of S&V African Leather will be out on 10 January. The deadline for contributions is 05 January.
- Game Skins: CITES: Navigating the complex non-trade aspects of a trade convention
Pretoria, Gauteng, SA – At the time of writing last week, the Sustainable Use Coalition (SUCo-SA) team was in Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the 77th CITES Standing Committee (SC 77) from 06-10 November.The Standing Committee provides policy guidance to the CITES Secretariat concerning the implementation of the Convention. It coordi ...morePOWERED BY THE SUN
Sustainability is a key requirement for tanneries with international customers. Conventional electricity supply in SA is a problem. 2 needs which can be met by the same technology ...moreThe effect of calcium concentration in delimed hides on the efficiency of bating
This is part of a series contributed by the International School of Tanning Technology (ISTT) in Grahamstown, E. Cape, SA, summarising complicated research papers into short articles more readily comprehensible to a wider audience.rnrnPart 1. Preparation of delimed hides with different residual concentrations ...moreNew IULTCS vice president
Northampton, UK (06 November 2023) – Geoff Holmes has been elected as the vice president of the International Union of Leather Technologists & Chemists (IULTCS) with effect from January 2024.He has a long history in the leather industry, having studied Leather Technology at the Leathersellers College at the University of Northam ...moreCOP28 & Trade Fairs: Sam Setter's 'Pills' - For readers who need some wry medicinal humourOn 30 November in Dubai the UN will hold for almost 2 weeks the next Conference Of Parties, better known as COP 28, to discuss global warming and climate change. I wonder how many private planes with a handful of passengers will land in Dubai, like the Secretary General of the UN, like Ursula von der Leyen, and all those heads of states o ...moreWet Blue: Contract tanning onlyBrits, N.W. Province, SA – At Brits Leathers and Rosslyn Tannery, our wet blue plants, we are currently only doing contract tanning for the automotive industry.At OR Leathers, our finishing plant, we are currently only doing contract tanning to crust, and we are not supplying local footwear manufacturers with finished leather. ...moreFootwear upper leathers: Loss of a wet blue supplier a concern, but cautiously optimisticCape Town, W. Cape, SA – Fusion is cautiously optimistic for H1/24 with a reasonable order book and some really interesting new developments and opportunities on the local and export markets. Everything depends on SA retailers and their willingness to support the domestic market and the currency valuation and stability for exports.T ...moreCrocodile: A lesson from the lower end: When standards go up, they become entrenched, but prices don’t necessarily followMogwase, N.W. Province, SA – At a macro level, China has slowed, the USA appears to be going through headwinds, and Europe is quiet. There is less concern about the effects of the Ukraine war, but Gaza is an issue. Wars affect the travel industry, which is an important market for luxury brands.In China, which was a secondary market ...moreLegacy Exotic Leather plans small plant for top qualityBulawayo, Zimbabwe – I would like to advise that I am establishing a new consultancy company with effect from January 2024.Legacy Exotic Leather Specialists (Pvt) Ltd will operate from Bulawayo. The initial focus will be on offering technical consultancy to local companies involved in processing exotic leathers, especially elephant ...moreProblem animal control: Sometimes there are simple solutions, but which one is the problem animal?Bulawayo, Zimbabwe – There is an increase in human/animal conflict as seen recently. Rural small-scale farmers traditionally plant maize this time of year, which unfortunately attracts animals, elephants being the main intruders.Natural game corridors have been encroached by these subsistence farmers, which inevitably results in &ls ...moreFootwear Industry Articles
- Wayne's Phambili range: Practical boots from non-safety to full protection
Roodepoort, Gauteng, SA – Wayne's Phambili range combines everyday comfort, dependable durability and clearly defined levels of protection in a practical range of PVC work boots. Developed for demanding working environments, the 3-boot lineup makes it easy to choose the protection best suited to the job while delivering the comfort ...moreStokies: New owner plans to resurrect a homegrown brandScottburgh, KZN, SA – Trendy Shoes, a KZN South Coast retailer which also has its own footwear factory producing footwear for its own 3 stores, bought the long-established but run-down brand, Stokies, from Faulks Footwear, which has now closed. Hussain Khan answers our questions.What attracted you to Stokies?What attracted us to Sto ...moreThe 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 ...more
Leather Industry Articles
- Fifteen million sheep in the UK to share among shearersAccording to the UK government, its sheep population decreased over the past year by 1.7% but that still leaves a flock of over 30 million. For comparison, the domestic flock in South Africa numbers about 21 million and New Zealand has some 23 million. Australia, with more than 70 million, has a wool clip of approximately 325,000 tonnes. ...moreOBLIQUITY
Shareholder value is usually the result of running a good business, not a reliable operational principle for running one ...moreWorld first - compost: Possible, desirable, not necessarily simple
The world of compostable leather is not as historically accurate as the industry would like it to be. The definition of leather is: “hide or skin with its original fibrous structure more or less intact, tanned to be imputrescible (rot-proof). Hair or wool may or may not have been removed, and the material can include split layers or ...more
PPE Industry Articles
- China-made firefighting equipment now needs verification of conformity with SANS standardsPretoria, Gauteng, SA – Firefighting equipment is among the 25 product categories published on 01 April by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition for a mandatory Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) Programme.The system will require certain goods shipped from China to be tested and certified before they enter the ...moreRealPPE Marketplace: Where safety meets smarter procurementRealPPE Marketplace is a 100% black women-owned B2B PPE marketplace built for South African industry. Founded after years of witnessing safety officers and procurement teams lose time to fragmented suppliers, inconsistent pricing, and missing documentation, RealPPE was created to bring structure and reliability to industrial PPE sourcing. ...moreNew OHS regulations coming into force later this year mean PPE needs to be reviewed, too
In March 2025, the Physical Agents Regulations (and their guidelines) and the Noise Exposure Regulations (and their guidelines) of the OHSAct were published, with an 18-month time-period promulgation date to September 2026, allowing employers time to upgrade their Health & Safety requirements to comply with the new published regulatio ...more
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