S&V African Leather Magazine Vol19 No1 January 2025
Click the advert links for more info. • Download PDF
IN THIS ISSUE:
03 Sam Setter’s ‘Pills’
- A new quip from Sam Setter in each issue.
04 Upfront
- No replacement yet for Pangea SA MD.
- ISTT launches online courses for international market. “Our future is the world,” says Dr Clive Jackson-Moss.
- Kenya eyes export windfall from revamped leather industry, according to Business Daily.
- Kawumu Leather Industry to start producing footwear and soles, reports Nexus Media.
- Ugandan National Council for Science and Technology and National Research Fund Kenya call for joint planning.
08 An Eclectic View
- Yoghurt unhairing: A missed opportunity? asks correspondent H. Procter.
10 Leather, Its Image & Its Place In The World
- New year, new ambitions? The Sustainable Leather Foundation’s Deborah Taylor says measures of success must be broadened to include the planet and people.
- Leather & Hide Council of America backs Congressional Slow Fashion Caucus
13 Weights & Measures
- Compiled by the ISTT.
14 Training
- Studies in leather education by Richard Daniels.
14 Research
- Abstract of a paper on the pathology of ‘double scale’ skin defect in farmed American alligators.
16 Agriculture
- Update on FMD in SA: Status of disease in E. Cape and KZN.
Advertisers in this Issue
Authenticae (10), International School of Tanning Technology (ISTT) (14), Mimosa (05), Rolfes Leather Division (OFC), S&V Calendar (this page), S&V Directory (09), Southern African Footwear & Leather Export Council (SAFLEC) (11), Sustainable Leather Foundation (03).
The Next Issue
- The February issue of S&V African Leather will be out on 12 February. The deadline for contributions is 5 February.
- Uganda to start producing footwear and soles in 2025 at Kawumu Leather Industry
Kampala, Uganda (19 December 2024) – The journalists who recently met the president while on a PDM assessment tour in Teso and Karamoja requested for a wealth creation tour of model farms in the country to strengthen mindset change to enable them to successfully engage in production.Uganda is set to begin producing footwear and sole ...moreYOGHURT UNHAIRING A missed opportunity?
In December 1986 a group out of the now defunct Protein and Leather department (headed by Heidemann) in Darmstadt published a paper that received some attention - but did not manage to influence the industry to the extent it should have. The group was trying to develop a new preservation method using a technology that Germans have used fo ...moreNew Year, New Ambitions?
The tradition of making a New Year’s Resolution is entrenched in ancient roots. Originally, used as a promise or commitment to Gods to repay debts or return borrowed items, they were a form of restoration. Resolutions evolved through Roman times to include reflection on the past as well as promises for the future, that often inclu ...moreLeather & Hide Council of America backs Congressional Slow Fashion Caucus
Stay Slow. Stay Real. Enjoy the Journey.03 December 2024 – The Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) has pledged its support to the Congressional Slow Fashion Caucus. The caucus, founded by district of Maine congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Washington district’s Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and California's Sydney Kamlager-Dove ...moreSam Setter's 'Pills': Environment and PoliticsCOP 29 is behind us and to say that it was a failure would be the understatement of the year! Mountains of millions were spent to have people attend, more as a relaxing holiday than a full-scale attempt to get projects approved to improve the environment. The VIPs, those that promote the action against climate chance, all travelled by pri ...moreNo replacement yet for Pangea SA MDNigel, Gauteng, SA – Former Pangea SA MD Shalen Sewnandan, who left the company in October last year, is consulting to Pangea, among other companies, on various issues.Pangea SA has not, so far, announced a new MD. Top management currently running the company are finance & administration director Adrian Visser, operations & ...moreISTT launches online courses for international marketGrahamstown, E. Cape, SA – This year, the International School of Tanning Technology will become just that – international – and our first 2 foreign customers have signed up before we launch.All our courses have been redeveloped for online tuition.Given the shock announcement last year that the University of Northampton ...moreState eyes Sh175bn annually from revamped leather industryBusiness DailyNairobi, Kenya (06 January 2025) – The State is eyeing a Sh175 billion annual turnover from a revamped leather industry, up from the current Sh15 billion, a top official said.Deputy president Kithure Kindiki, while inspecting work on the planned Kinanie Leather Park in Machakos County on Monday, said the leather indust ...moreCall for joint research proposals in agro-processing (food & feed) and leather value chain development in Kenya and UgandaNairobi, Kenya / Kampala, Uganda (06 January 2025) –The Ugandan National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) and the National Research Fund (NRF) Kenya have issued a bilateral joint call for collaborative research proposals under the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI). This initiative aims to generate critical knowle ...moreStudies in leather educationThe loss of much tradition-based training - such as the recent closure of ICLT – is a matter of concern, and can have serious effects that extend across the global leather sector. Nevertheless, there are two existing and updated studies available to help address these eventualities and minimise the impact of such closures.The first ...morePathology of ‘double scale’ skin defect in farmed American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) and the possible association with hepatic fibrosisIlaria M Piras 1, Annemarie Bezuidenhout 2, Josué Díaz-Delgado 3 4, Deirdre Slawski 2, Pamela A Kelly 1 Affiliations1University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.2Padenga Holdings Ltd, Harare, Zimbabwe.3Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, College Statio ...moreUpdate on FMD outbreak in E. Cape and KZNPretoria, Gauteng, SA (20 December 2024) – Currently, there are 2 Provinces with ongoing foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks, while all other FMD outbreaks have been resolved and closed with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).Eastern Cape Province The outbreak in the Eastern Cape Province remains stable, with no new ...moreFootwear Industry Articles
- Shlobo Designs: Foreign consumers appreciate handwork and the story behind the brand
Durban, KZN, SA – I’m a native of Umlazi’s K section, but I’ve called Seaview home since 1994.My life has been a tapestry of experiences, woven with threads of resilience, creativity, and unwavering determination. My journey took an unexpected turn when I was retrenched while working for the bank with a wealth expe ...moreVermont sale completedJohannesburg, Gauteng, SA – After 39 years, former owner Mandy Owen has sold her shares in Vermont Leathercraft Manufacturers (Pty) Ltd to Creek Lab (Pty) Ltd, and officially handed over the business to Prashant Bhaga.In a message on LinkedIn, she wrote: “I would like to thank my husband, Graham, for his invaluable contributio ...moreThe Chinese sports brand taking on Nike and Adidas
Chinese sportswear brand Anta counts Olympic freestyle skier Eileen Gu among its brand ambassadorsChina's economy was just starting to open up in the late 1980s when a determined high school dropout made his way to Beijing with 600 pairs of shoes.Ding Shizhong had them made in a relative's factory and now he was going to sell them. The mo ...more
Leather Industry Articles
- Sam Setter's 'Pills': TraceabilityThe EU Commission is very much engaged in bringing traceability of our raw materials to the forefront of tannery management. But let’s reflect on this for a moment. In the industrial world traceability is a fact, and particularly where food is involved, traceability is a standard requirement for trading. This is firstly to ensure fo ...moreMobilising Africa’s human resource to reinvigorate the regional leather value chain
In last month’s edition I wrote about mobilising Africa’s livestock to reinvigorate the regional leather value chain, and this article is focussed on mobilising the human resource that is needed to make the most of the abundant livestock populations in the region.On Friday 12th June, newly organised SARLEN (Southern African Re ...moreCooperation between SMEs, academia and government can find solutions
Dr Cecilia China, AfriTech Organic Leather Co. Ltd, the Nelson Mandela Institution of Science & Technology She said Africa has the hides and skins but lacks organised systems to convert them into competitive products.She described her interactions with the Kiwango Leather Cluster with the goal of producing high quality, eco-frien ...more
PPE Industry Articles
- Protecting the workforce: The critical role of PPE
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is utilised in a work-environment as part of a larger prevention plan, because on its own protection is limited and may even provide a false sense of protection.An occupational disease prevention plan must be an actionable approach that identifies workplace health hazards, evaluates exposure, and i ...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. ...moreWhat if the respirator you rely on to protect your health never sealed properly?
I had the opportunity to present at the first PPE Conference in RSA, where I shared some early work we) have been exploring towards developing respirator designs better suited to the South African population.Below is a short AI-generated summary of the core message of the presentation.Respirators are often the last line of defence against ...more
© S&V Publications
