S&V Footwear & Leather Goods Magazine Vol91 No10 October 2025
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IN THIS ISSUE:
03 Upfront
- Mizuno: New distributor plans to increase marketing, and diversification of sports categories.
- Tifosi Sports: Moving on after On.
- Mixed messages from Deckers Brands’ results.
07 School Shoes
- The basic that must be comfortable, last for a long time, and cost very little. Palm Footwear’s Rajeev Pattundeen explains how.
10 Insights by Tinashe Mandirahwe
- Are big shoe brands holding back better shoes?
- Skechers goes private amid rising tariffs.
14 Brand Protection
- In the first of a series, Strauss Daly Attorneys discusses protecting brands against imitations.
16 Noticeboard
- Appointment: BBF’s Ndlela Mazibuko will focus on customers.
- The Life of Brian: Back in the day: When overseas travel was a real trip. World class manufacturing was an eye-opener and a lesson, writes Brian Zyster.
- Obituary: Miles O’Brien, Sportshoe and Jordan Shoes – Some See the Crescent, He Saw the Whole of the Moon, by Nick Bryant.
21 Statistics
- Preliminary trade statistics August 2025
Advertisers in this Issue
Arena Trims (15), East Asian Import & Export (09), Freestyle Genuine Handcrafted Leather (02), Haesloop Agencies (17), Kaytex Belts (11), Leather Finishing Products (13), Palm Footwear/Trustees (OFC), Saddler Belts (06), SAFLEC (16), S&V Calendar (01), S&V Directory (10), Shotland Packaging (20), Vandan Engineering (05).
- Tifosi Sports: Moving on after On
Randburg, Gauteng, SA – Tifosi Sports “will be looking to establish a relationship with a meaningful international sports brand” when Swiss running shoe brand On moves to a new distributor in January, CEO Nick Zografos said last week. “We’re in discussions with a number of them.”Tifosi Sports has repres ...moreMixed messages from Deckers Brands results
Goleta, California, USA (23 October 2025) – Hoka grew by 11.1% to US$634.1 million and Ugg grew by 10.1% to $759.6 million in Deckers Brands’ second fiscal quarter ended 30 September, the company announced.Sales of its ‘other brands’, now mainly Teva and Ahnu following the phase-out of its Koolaburra operations, de ...moreThe basic that must be comfortable, last for a long time, and cost very little
This is the peak season for retailers to stock school shoes, the unglamorous staple which underpins so much of the SA footwear industry. Palm Footwear is one of the most successful school shoe suppliers, and here MD Rajeev Pattundeen answers our questions about what consumers expect and retailers need from this category, and what the future holds. ...moreSkechers goes private amid rising tariffs
As U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports climb to 125%, Skechers is stepping away from public markets to rethink its strategy. ...moreBBF’s Ndlela Mazibuko: Focusing on customers
Pinetown, KZN, SA – BBF Safety Group has appointed Ndlela Mazibuko as MD, effective 1 November 2025. He will work alongside the BBF Safety Group CEO, Brian Kuhnert, and the Beier Group CEO, Warren Sachs, in growing the customer centric focus of the business.In a release, BBF wrote:A seasoned industrialist and inclusive leader, Ndle ...moreObituary: Miles O’Brien – Sportshoe, Jordan Shoes (08/02/1950-26/10/2025) Some See the Crescent, He Saw the Whole of the Moon
Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Miles O’Brien went to Progress College in Rondebosch and studied marketing at Cape Technikon. His first job was at Standard Bank in Plumstead for a short period of time, then onto the City Tramways for 10 years.Sportshoe was owned by Benny Stoltzman (who also owned Vogue Shoes) who had the agency for A ...moreMizuno: New distributor plans increase in marketing, and diversification of sports categoriesJohannesburg, Gauteng, SA – Digital Wellness has been appointed by Mizuno Europe as the new Mizuno Footwear distributor for Southern Africa.It was previously distributed by Performance Endurance Solutions.Brian Kerby will continue with the brand, filling the role of Mizuno Brand Manager. He and Digital Wellness MD Ricky West respond ...moreAre big shoe brands holding back better shoes?On the 28 June 2025 episode of The Energy Blueprint Podcast, Xero Shoes co-founder Steven Sashen made a striking claim: a major sports brand secretly tested a more natural shoe that cut injury rates by half compared to their top-selling model — and then shelved it.A more natural shoe, as Sashen describes, is desi ...moreKnock out the knockoffs: Protecting your brand against imitationsCounterfeiting is no longer confined to imitation designer goods sold in back-alley markets. It has become a widespread and organised trade that threatens fair competition and the rights of legitimate businesses. At its simplest, counterfeiting means the deliberate manufacture and sale of goods calculated to resemble genuine branded produ ...moreWorld class manufacturing was an eye-opener and a lessonThis is my last contribution to this series of events. I have thoroughly enjoyed stepping back into the days when travelling to find new designs was real travel.My final contribution is to say that with all that happened there were a lot of positives also achieved. I managed to visit some international manufacturing facilit ...moreFootwear Industry Articles
- Comrades Expo 2026
Durban, KZN, SA – The exhibitor list at the Comrades Expo, from 11-13 June, has shown an evolution in the types of companies exhibiting. Just 1 running footwear supplier, Ikhambi Distribution, promoting its Hoka brand, was there.Technical sock suppliers, however, were well represented, with Balega, Falke, Sox Footwear and The Hirst ...moreEffects of AI in developing the relationship between feet and footwear (part 1)
Historically, theoretically and practically, our feet have played a significant role in the connection of the body to mother earth. We know that the foot is a hardy, adaptable and biomechanically efficient part of the anatomy, such that little else is required to ensure maximum traction, propulsion, stability, cushioning, shock absorption ...moreShlobo 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 ...more
Leather Industry Articles
- Improving the strength and softness of crust leather through pressure treatment
IntroductionRetanning and fatliquoring have a major impact on the characteristics of leather, whereas dyeing and the finishing concentrate on the appearance of the leather. Various retanning agents and fatliquoring agents have been developed to improve the softness and mechanical strength of leather, parameters that are important to the b ...moreSam Setter's 'Pills': Congratulations!Congratulations and compliments to UNIC and COTANCE for the huge job they have done together with LCHA, AHSLEA, Beef & Lamb New Zealand, TDSD, CICB, ALLPI, ICT, ICHSLTA, ICEC and SLF as well as many others by convincing the EU to scrap bovine hides from the EUDR directive. A long and tiring process which has cost them lots of time and ...moreLEATHER’S ELEMENTARY UNIT
Geoff Attenburrow’s PhD student David M. Wright worked on the behaviour of leather under strain (Attenburrow, 1993; Wright, 1996). They were the first to describe that leather had a “co-operating unit”, a set of structures within leather that helped the leather to resist breaking and to resist deformation at low strain.T ...more
PPE Industry Articles
- The PPE Conference – PPE isn’t optional, it’s essential: A review
Leighton Bennett, the Safety First Association chairperson and a SHE and risk management consultantThe hosts of this first PPE Conference held in South Africa, were the Safety First Association and SAPEMA, on the 10 and 11 March 2026, at the Emperor’s Palace, in Kempton Park.This conference objectives were to provide a unique opport ...moreProactive or reactive? The importance of choosing the correct hand protection
Our aim is to deliver value to the user experience by ensuring optimal protection, compliance, and operational confidence in every task performed.Hand protection has evolved significantly in response to the critical need to reduce workplace injuries and strengthen safety performance across diverse industries.Modern advancements in materia ...moreBiodegradable disposable gloves ‘a growing trend’ in PPE
The poster is available to download in English in both PNG and PDF formats hereCompostable and biodegradable PPE are said to be rapidly growing trends internationally, lead by brands like Showa and HaPPE Earth.The nova-Institut für politische und ökologische Innovation GmbH in Hürth, Germany, has published an updated versio ...more
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