Back in the day, the 1980s and 90s, before the time of cell phones and the internet, all design and marketing teams in the South African footwear industry had to visit the fairs and shop windows in Paris, Frankfurt, Bologna and Alicante in person to see the various new product releases from the design houses.This happened over a 3-week pe ...more

Marondera, Zimbabwe – Eagle Italian Leather (Pvt) Ltd and Eagle Italian Shoes (Pvt) Ltd, which operate as a combined tanning and footwear manufacturing business and which were set up about 20 years ago to supply the Zimbabwean Government with military boots, are expecting to reopen, director Francesco Marconati said this month.He sa ...more

My career journey is a testament to a passion for craftsmanship. I was born and raised in Tehran, Iran, and completed my high school education in 1974. Shortly thereafter, I spent two years working in my father's engineering company, where I was exposed to numerous industries. It was during this time that I discovered my interest in leath ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Fusion Leather World (Pty) Ltd is the 11th South African tannery to become a Leather Working Group (LWG) certified supplier. It has been awarded a silver rating.“It’s now expected of leather exporters to have certification,” said MD Denzil Spolander. “Most of our growth will be from e ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – It’s a complicated leather dynasty covering 2 generations and 6 family members (so far), mixed heritages, and 4 varied businesses which have 2 things in common – they use leather, and they rely on design creativity to produce saleable products.Tiziano Gottardo and his son from his third marriage, ...more

Washington, DC, U.S. (16 August 2024) – The promotional blog Real Leather. Stay Different. (RLSD), funded by the Leather & Hide Council of America (LHCA) to promote U.S. leather internationally, organises an annual international student design competition. It has issued the following release: ...more

In the last week no less than three companies have spoken with SLF about the lack of industry cohesiveness when it comes to external representation. Complaints that our existing support organisations are not doing enough to ensure the industry’s opinions and concerns at inter-governmental level are regularly heard. ...more

Jinja, Uganda (Monday 06 May 2024) – Four leather factories in Jinja City have closed, leaving hundreds of former workers unemployed.The factories are SWT Leather Industries located on Mutibwa Road, Mehaka Leather Exim Smc Limited, Uganda Leather and Tannery Industries, Jinja, and Loyal Small-Scale Industries located on Nile Crescen ...more

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA – The leather crafting market has picked up, starting last October, but is still nowhere near as buoyant as before or immediately after covid, said Kevin Thompson, director of leather, trims and tools supplier Leatherite International.“Most of last year was a bit tough,” he said. “You can see ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – On the fashion side local manufacturers in general are finding business quite tough. There are manufacturers operating in “niche” areas of the market that are doing quite well.On a more positive note, our school shoe manufacturers seem to be doing okay. On the industrial side we do not really ope ...more

Was this your first overseas exhibition? No, I have done 5 other exhibitions, but this was my first time in Hong Kong.Did you do any confirmed business? – No.Did you come away with realistic leads? – Yes, I did.Are your current products appropriate for export? – Yes, they are.Because of your participation at APLF, are th ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – We found the fair to be excellent and, in many ways, back to the old glory days where everybody that we do business with around the globe attended.  We had current and past customers visit us from North America, South America, Europe, Australia and of course the East (which included Japan, Korea, etc).T ...more

Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA – We had a very successful APLF and were busy on all 3 days. We use these fairs to fly the NTE flag but also to meet many of our agents from the region as travel in and out of Hong Kong is very convenient for them. Some don’t attend ACLE in Shanghai as they see it as a Chinese fair and travelling ther ...more

Traceability is the key, and the danger is that noncompliance will lead to brands moving further away from leather as a material choice because it’s too challenging to source ...more

Windhoek, Namibia – I have been appointed MD of Nakara Tannery & Manufacturing as of January, and I am pleased to report that Nakara has been audited by the Sustainable Leather Foundation and that it is now an SLF compliance partner.With regards to the benefits and learnings during the auditing process:The SLF auditing process b ...more

Kafue, Zambia – Topsoil General Dealers was registered as a company in 2009 as a raw hides and skins trading company.  The company supplies good quality raw hides and skins to local tanneries to be processed into leather as a way of value addition.The raw hides not fit for leather processing are sundried and exported for food t ...more

On 12-13th February SLF deliverED a 2-day workshop in Harare, Zimbabwe where tanneries from Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Zambia cAme together to participate.This was a continuation of the work under the SIPS project that began last year, and the last issue of S&V African Leather reported on the positive results of the work already complet ...more

In other news, on Wednesday 17th January 2024, the EU overwhelmingly voted for the adoption of the Green Claims Directive, with 593 votes in favour, 21 against and 14 abstentions. The Directive that is designed to prevent companies from misleading consumers through “greenwashing” or vague marketing claims, will now go for Cou ...more

Columnist H. Procter wrote about solar power in the November issue, noting that it could both address sustainability issues and free tanneries from load shedding.“I had a call with Mossop Leather MD Gert Kruger after we published that article,” he wrote. “He told me it was possible to get all electricity needs with some ...more

Brits, 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.  ...more

Cape 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 ...more

Bulawayo, 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 ...more

A series on successful South African footwear and leather goods exporters. Sponsored by the SA Footwear & Leather Export Council (SAFLEC).A South African delegation returned to Japan’s Fashion World Tokyo trade fair from 10-12 October, for the first time post-covid. Described as ‘Japan’s largest international fashion ...more

 African Leather: What is interesting about the Barnini spray arm?The Barnini Robot system is the first multi-patented leather loading system in the world, that is capable of automatically loading leather from a stand, platform or chain.The robot system is also capable of finishing panels or whole skins, simulating production systems ...more

Legal battles can be very drawn-out affairs, so the reptile exotic leather lobby globally is very relieved that a landmark victory in March this year in California, in a case between the states of Louisiana and California, “is all wrapped up and done, and there are NO APPEALS IN COURT! 🎉”, wrote Christy Plott, director of A ...more

Port Elizabeth, E. Cape, SA - The domestic market for travel goods isn’t quite back to where it was pre-covid, but it has picked up considerably over the last year and half. There are also a lot of international tourists that are visiting South Africa again, especially in Cape Town. They are a market for our leather, business, and c ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Overall we’re not unhappy. June and July were quiet, but the orders have since come in. We’re not at capacity, but we will be working a 6-day week until the end of the year.The school shoe market is good, fashion is more variable, but quite good.There is still the age-old problem of payments &nda ...more

As most of mainland Europe begin their summer break, it is usually around this time of year that we can take stock, catch up on those administrative tasks and plan for the rest of the year. Well, perhaps it is a sign of our fast-changing industry landscape, that means this year we are still moving at full speed just to stay on top of the ...more

Plastics – including ‘vegan leather’ – have handed leather a free pass to win hearts and minds in the battle to curtail old, bad, carbon. ...more

On 15 and 16 May, Northampton University held its inaugural Sustainability Summit with the central theme of “Adapting to a changing world – addressing our shared sustainability challenges”.The 2-day event, which was held at the University’s Waterside Campus, brought together representatives from local, national and ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – “The question is: If a consumer has R50 000 to spend right now, will he spend it on a leather suite or on an inverter? It’s something of a no-brainer,” said Leather Link’s Hugo Zuanni, in response to a query on the state of the leather furniture market.Leather Link is an agent, i ...more

On 26 April the Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF) announced the successful completion of a tender process with the Joint Action Support towards Industrialization and the Productive Sectors in the SADC region (SIPS) project to support sustainable and environmental compliance for the leather value chain in the Southern African Developmen ...more

Creating safe and sustainable supply chains for leather workers: UNIDO launches new Occupational Safety and Health course targeting the leather manufacturing sector. Acting together to build a positive safety and health culture – a safe and healthy working environment is a fundamental principle and right at work. ...more

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA – The foot count in the Oriental Plaza, Fordsburg, is up, which is an indicator of improved trading, said M.H. Abdulla, member of men's lifestyle outfitter Casual Affair.      "It's not going to be like the old days, pre-Covid, but business is definitely up on last ye ...more

Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA - Leather From Hart, SA's only remaining heavy leather tannery - making veg-tanned leather in pits and drums - burnt down over the weekend.      Jonathan Munro, director of Cordova Leathers, which is in the same complex in Plessislaer, said the veg plant had been "totally destro ...more

Durban, KZN, SA - "We're waiting for something to take off," said Garth Ribbink of synthetic upper materials supplier A. Greenaways (Natal). It's all dull. Summer is starting now but the build up has been slow."Durban, KZN, SA - Sales are still quiet, said Rowan Allison, who sells for Midland Leather. "A couple of the ...more

The leather industry - especially the exotic leather industry - has to accept that it will not be treated fairly. So, like Caesar's wife, it must be above suspicion ...more

Deborah Taylor, MD of the Sustainable Leather Foundation, took part in a Bangladesh International Investment Summit in November. Here she writes about the summit and visits to tanneries and leather goods and footwear manufacturers. ...more

The product called E-Leather by the company that makes it (it stands for 'leather evolved' or 'engineered leather' - really?) or Fly Leather by Nike, is one of the synthetic products which incorporates leather waste. But the claim that it is therefore more environmentally acceptable than leather doesn't hold up. ...more

South Africa's 2 automotive leather tanneries have reacted with scepticism to a report by Market Growth Reports which paints a picture of 'steady growth' for automotive leather globally over the next 5 years. ...more

Financed by its social impact programme, Stellenbosch University is investigating a fish skin tanning project to assist jobless people in nearby coastal communities. ...more

SGS, the French-based testing, inspection and certification company, has joined Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF) as a Contributing Partner! ...more

Internationally, leather is under fire both from (unfairly, generally speaking) the animal welfare lobby and (with much more justification in some instances) the environmental lobby. In Europe, which is the epicentre of anti-leather sentiment, individuals and companies in the leather industry have responded by creating bodies to both educate the public of leather's bona fides and to encourage the leather industry to live up to those expectations. ...more

Himo Town/Area Moshi, Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania - The response from Leather Association of Tanzania executive secretary Freddy Silvester Kabala to our questions for the feature on sheep and goat skins leathers in the last issue arrived too late for inclusion. Here are his answers: ...more

Durban, KZN, SA – The Leather Bargaining Council is trying to find the below mentioned persons who worked at Trafford Trading (part of the Spectrum Group) between the period 1 May 2003 and 24 February 2004. The Bargaining Council is holding monies that are due to them and would like to give them their money. The Bargaining Counci ...more

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

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

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

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 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

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

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