By Herbert Schier, member. Manufacturer and retailer.Swakopmund – By comparison we had similar sales as 2019 and did expect the same, as our veldskoen is popular amongst locals and visitors.      We always try to make our product affordable. Our retail prices were increased in August by about 5%.  ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA - There is an air of cautious optimism, with many of our customers starting off 2021 with stronger than anticipated order books. Retailers seem to be talking to local manufacturers as international logistics remains unreliable and unpredictable.Hide prices are on the rise. Interestingly the customers who reminded ta ...more

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA - Really tough year ahead, corporates and individuals will be watching the pennies very carefully, hoping that they will look after the pounds. There will be small rays of sunshine, but I believe these will be short-lived. At the moment survival and cost cutting are the orders for the day and we have to hang in t ...more

Kimberley, N. Cape, SA - Former EVA Industries staff member Gerry du Toit, who moved to Kimberley in August, has got his small factory up and running, trading as Kim G. Leather Sandals.He writes: "At the moment it's only me, manufacturing sandals and supplying a few customers. Small production. Have to build up a customer base, littl ...more

Lagos, Nigeria - The just concluded LLF Digital was an absolute blast! LLF was this year’s edition of the Lagos Leather Fair. The event took place from 19th-22nd November 2020, it was a 100% virtual and was nothing short of amazing. The 4-days were enlightening, filled with insightful conversations, and impactful masterclasses. LLF ...more

S&V has been a window onto the soul of the leather, footwear and leather goods industries for decades, and like them, has reinvented itself many times This is an anniversary year for S&V. An 85th anniversary. I very much doubt many other industries in South Africa have a trade publication which has published continuously for ...more

Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA – We started up after 2 days of preparing our factory to comply with the new OHS Act. It has been a hectic 2 weeks and the exact number of employees we are permitted to have on site has been a bit confusing. We have been operating with 30% of our staff for the past 2 weeks, which has not been financia ...more

Tulbagh, W Cape, SA – To answer you, for what it is worth;1. We got permit for L5, workers refused to start, they told me, they not interested to return to work, if not all workers are allowed to work at once! Took me more than a week, to get the essential workers in the factory.2. At the moment, my workers refuse to work. The ...more

Durban, KZN, SA - Morgan Naidoo, member of leather indent agent Alan D. Jackson, which has principals in Brazil, India and Pakistan, said most of his customers still had stocks of leather. He said the global drop in hide prices had seen the prices for Brazilian leather drop from US$2.45-2.50/ft² to $2.10, "which is a significant ...more

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA - Unfortunately orders on the automotive side are nonexistent, and with Brazilian TR1s being offered at 0.35US$/ft², even export orders on wet blues are hard to come by and to compete with.  The majority of the wet blue plants were wet salting during the lockdown phase with the prospect of being able to pro ...more

Cape Town, W Cape, SA - Lockdown has in some crazy way been a hugely inspirational period for the Fusion Leather and African Gameskin team. The challenge of new and unknown, sparks energy in my team and leads to extraordinary thinking.  We are in regular contact with our customers, carving a path for the near future, along with an 18 ...more

Wellington, W Cape, SA - One has to acknowledge that the remainder of 2020 will be very tough.  Liquidity in the industry will be the largest challenge we face and all of us have to act responsibly to our customers and suppliers in this regard.   There is vast uncertainty about the medium term future and shoe manufacturers ...more

Rayton, Gauteng, SA - The hunting and taxidermy sectors are awaiting the easing of restrictions on the transport of trophies and game skins across provincial boundaries, and on a broader definition of allowed hunting, before they can resume commercially viable operations. "There are so many apparent contradictions in the rules," ...more

Lusaka, Zambia – Former England Rugby Union International and World Cup winner Jason Leonard has been knocked sideways by the quality of locally produced Kaleza football boots. The popular Z-12 boots made by Zambeef division Zamleather are already scoring hits with players across the country. Now they have caught the attention of th ...more

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA (July 31, 2019) – The SA Revenue Services released trade statistics for June 2019 which showed that the value of the value of hides, skins & leather trade - imports and exports - has fallen this year by comparison with last year, while the value of footwear & accessories trade - imports and exports - h ...more

The domestic footwear industry has continued in a similar vein to 2016: that is a lot of uncertainty about future demand and what impact the ongoing political and economic instability will have on consumer behaviour. Different sectors of the footwear market have experienced varied trading conditions, with the civilian footwear sector (fas ...more

The reality that the furniture manufacturing sector was negatively affected by the economic downturn could be seen in the drop of domestic leather sales. Initially, there was movement from high-end leathers to corrected grain leathers purely from a cost point of view. However, these sales reduced dramatically as the general consumer had t ...more

ACLE coincides with World Leather CongressShanghai, China - The 20th edition of the All China Leather Exhibition (ACLE) (August 30-September 1) will be preceded on August 29 by the 3rd World Leather Congress (WLC), also in Shanghai, themed 'The Leather Revolution'.  These 2 major events are the most important to be organised in China ...more

In this series on sustainable leather production, the previous ten articles have discussed the steps that tanners could take to reduce the salt concentration in tannery effluents. Another major source of pollution in a tannery is the liming / unhairing process, and the following few articles in this series on sustainable processing will h ...more

Tom Bassage, member, CC LeatherPietermaritzburg, SA – Our turnover is up on last year – I estimate by between 10% and 15% – but I think our profitability is much the same.I think the reason for the increase has simply been that we’ve introduced some cheaper lines. Essentially, we’ve added some synthetic upper ...more

On behalf of the Southern Africa SLTC, we are pleased to invite your corporation to our yearly SLTC conference that will take place on the 26 to 28 May 2017.        The conference is held yearly to present all aspects that influence the leather industry and offer a networking environment between tanneries and suppliers ...more

Urgent call to SA visitors to APLFThe feasibility study on the formation of a Leather Research Institute will be officially handed over at the APLF fair in Hong Kong by the Institute for Creative Leather Technology (Northampton University) to the dti, Exotic Leather South Africa and SHALC. Interested industry stakeholders attending the AP ...more

Presentation by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, at the Red Meat Industry Workshop on March 16 ...more

Nairobi (Kenya) – During the launch of the Kenya Footwear Manufacturers Association 5 year strategic plan (2017-2022) the government continued with its commitment towards the development of the sector by announcing the setting up of a US$1 million pool for the establishment of a revolving fund to provide funds to SMEs at a preferen ...more

Cape Town (SA) – The India Leather & Footwear Trade Show will be officially opened by Dr Ivan Meyer, Minister of Finance, Western Cape Government, on Wednesday, 8 March at 10:00am in Hall 4B at the CTICC in Cape Town. The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) and Mr Puneet R Kundal, Consul General, Consulate General of India, Cape ...more

Zambeef Product's leather division, Zamleather, has exported its 100th container of wet blue tanned leather to Beijing in China in February.        The milestone was reached as the company recently signed a contract worth over US$330,000 for the supply of wet blue leather to Beijing Huiding Leather ...more

Cape Town (SA) – The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) will host the India Leather & Footwear Trade Expo next week Wed, 8 & Thurs, 9 March 2017 at the CTICC, Cape Town. This year, there will be 15 leading finished leather manufacturers (including buffalo, cow, sheep and goat) exhibiting. In addition to finished leather manu ...more

Milan (Italy) – Simac Tanning Tech, the international exhibition of machinery and technology for the footwear, leather-goods and tanning industry, closed with a two-figure increase in visitor numbers compared with 2016, which had already been a record year for the event, and recorded longer exhibition visits. Increases were also se ...more

Cape Town (SA) – The Council for Leather Exports (CLE), an initiative of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, invites all chains and independent store buyers, importers, distributors, agents and other important industry decision makers to attend their top class event featuring 45 reputable manufacturers fro ...more