JANUARY 21, 2011 Hot in São Paulo It’s Tuesday and it is hot in São Paulo, and late afternoon some of the suburbs are flooded when a huge thunderstorm filled the skies with incredible rain for an hour. The lights and power went out at Cuoromoda and the 2ndInternational Leather Forum was nearly brought to […]
Northampton Study, Bologna Party and the Calzatecnia Conference in Mexico
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 19, 2010 Two posts below The Northampton Study The Northampton Study is a project we have been working on over the summer to gather the opinions of generation Y about leather. This study was used in part for a paper on consumer power in the leather industry given to the Centenary Conference […]
Corium in Bologna and Princess Anne in Scotland
POSTED ON OCTOBER 6, 2010 An excited industry goes to Bologna The autumn season has rushed up on us as we move from Shanghai to Bologna to see what hide prices will do and continue taking the temperature of the industry to see if a double dip in the world economy. Shanghai was a resounding […]
UNIDO, USAid and Africa; Leather can help bring Africa out of poverty
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 16, 2009 US AID should give all its money for scholarships For most of us who have spent anytime in the leather and leather using industries the UNIDO has crossed the horizon in a somewhat shadowy way. Occasionally we meet staff in the field, particularly when travelling in Africa or other developing […]
Bertin in the Amazon
BRAZILIAN LEATHER GIANT COMMITS TO AMAZON CATTLE MORATORIUM FOLLOWING INDUSTRY PRESSURE Tough new sourcing policies from Clarks and others have been iinstrumental in a decision by Bertin to expand an official agreement signed in July with the Brazilian Federal Prosecution Office and the government of Pará state in Amazonia, which was limited only to excluding […]
The Greenpeace report on the Amazon and Northampton celebrates 100 years of Leather teaching
POSTED ON AUGUST 16, 2009 The Amazon is important for the leather industry One highlight of the summer has been the publication of the Greenpeace report “Slaughtering the Amazon” and the way the leather industry has reacted to. We had always thought that cutting down the rain forest was about illegal logging but it turns […]
Clarks and the Amazon – today’s press release;
Responsible management of Clarks’ leather supply chain Clarks regards climate change as a most significant issue and we are working hard across our global business to reduce our overall environmental impact, as part of our commitment to sustainable business practices in our own operations and our supply chain. A recent report by Greenpeace highlighted the […]
Pigs in the world
There are a lot of pigs in the world and they are more important in the leather chain than we think, especially since we have to take seriously the land use issues which are implied in the complaints by Greenpeace that tanners are in part responsible for the damage of the Amazon rain forest. The […]
Leather Demand Damages Amazon Rain Forest
Western beef & leather demand leading to intensified deforestation in the Amazon: http://bit.ly/3PtVi The big issue which is dominating the leather discussion of the moment is the recent report by Greenpeace on ranching in the Amazon. See (http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/slaughtering-the-amazon) Its arrival was accompanied by a good PR promotion which included very good articles in the Financial […]
Dangerous Words
I have always argued an industry has to defend its product and its brand, and the brand leather is certainly under attack from many sides. Look at the article in today’s (15h February 2009) Observer Magazine:.http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/15/lucy-siegle-dilemma-eco-friendly-green-living/print This article “Is there a viable eco alternative to leather?” is supposed to be an “environmental” article. It has […]