Mike Redwood

From early findings at the All China Leather Exhibition (ACLE), currently taking place in Shanghai, the leather industry has made a good recovery from the recession, and while cautious about a double dip, is generally doing well.

Yet a number of key companies in various sectors and throughout the supply chain - from raw materials to retailers - have become concerned, as some current trends are their future implications for the industry. Leather is no longer an essential material in any of its traditional end uses and has to fight for market share against new technical textiles and plastic materials that did not exist before. Unchallenged reports from respected bodies like FAO and Greenpeace and wilder ones from PETA are framing attitudes of the young people who the leather industry require not just as future consumers but also designers and product developers. The approach that makes leather the default product to use or to purchase in many articles cannot be relied upon for the future.

At the same time the plastic and synthetic material business has become clever. Tanners noted how easy it was to see them off three decades ago when Corfam was expected to take over the footwear sector and failed abysmally.  But today the products are better, the marketing is targeted at products where leather is more vulnerable, and the marketing language right down to the use of the word leather has been stolen from the leather industry itself. Noting that so many future consumers are in countries like China where they have been bombarded with promotions for “synthetic leather” and “pleather” just as much as for aniline or full grain leather can we blame them for not being sure of the difference?

Over the last eighteen months informal discussions have lead to discussion meetings at APLF –MM&T in Hong Kong and yesterday at ACLE where the concept of a global generic campaign for Leather as a quality, sustainable material which uniquely matches technical adaptability with natural elegance. Recently the concept has adopted the name LeatherNaturally! which currently has a holding web site at LeatherNaturally.org and a Facebook fan page. The meetings have created a large number of positive ideas and opinions which will be analysed and refined during the last days of the show and subsequently before any next steps are decided. We wait to see if the success of campaigns for wool, cotton and milk might soon be replicated in leather. Those interested to learn more, or to indicate support, can make contact via the LeatherNaturally.org website.