First published in ARS Tannery
One wonders whether when people got really hooked on writing on parchment hundreds of years ago there was an outcry about there not being enough raw material being left for making garments? Where would all the raw material come from if the parchment industry took it all? No one, after all, would breed sheep just for their skins.
When Corfam was produced last century it was a huge investment spent in the belief that there would not be enough leather for shoes.
This generally held view that leather comes from a scarce commodity that will rise in value making leather more expensive and tanners richer pervades our industry. “Leather is like a fine Rioja” said one of my good Spanish friends. “A rare thing to be treasured”.
But the world of leather did not collapse under the weight of demand for either parchment or shoe leather. The Chinese had developed paper and it was cheaper and more convenient for most purposes, although we now know it does not last so well, something to be considered when we observe our current mass of digital records. And as Corfam arrived so did athletic footwear and along with it modern textiles and plastics. Corfam failed because it was not needed just as much as because it was not very good. Today leather is only used in about one third of all shoes and in the last couple of years when hide prices have been pushing higher it has been leather for footwear that is being displaced.
One leather industry or two
As hide prices have risen over the last few years we have seen different approaches in different parts of the industry. Leather retains its value where its beauty or its technical performance excel. Luckily there are many sectors where these still count, including in many types of footwear. This is just as well since there are now no uses for leather for which an alternative cannot be found. This makes it imperative that we continue to improve all aspects of leather manufacture so that it does not fall behind the fast developing alternates. We all love the smell of leather, but is it really true that some Asians think the smell of PU and PVC is actually superior? So we need to stay moving forward educationally as well as technically so that all future consumers understand the inherent values that exist with natural materials.
What has become clear is the possible appearance of a two tier leather industry. One embodies all that we talk and write about leather as a high value “rare thing to be treasured” just as my friend said. The other area is a big one, in danger or growing in size, of commodity leather. This does the overall industry no good, nor does it help the tanners involved as the profitability will always be low. We sometimes absolve the products involved of any blame by talking of the necessity to use up what gets described as the “lower end”. Yet as competitor materials start to surpass them in appearance and properties they are in danger of being left as orphaned leathers that no one wants.
It is a hard thing to imagine, given our general pride in hides and skins as such a versatile, performance material. The profoundly clever three dimensional matrix that tanners start with surely should not lead to a plastic looking commodity after so much effort in the tannery.
Europe stands in a peculiar position here. It has a very high proportion of those top quality hides and skins for which demand remains strong, and clever marketing should increasingly permit margin growth. Yet, as I have often written, Europe, starting with Santa Croce sull’Arno in Italy, has a great reputation for converting these other leathers into top quality products. While Santa Croce focussed on the look and feel of the leather, the aesthetic side, new technological approaches have also appeared in recent years in Germany, Spain and in the UK. Sports and military leathers, new tannage approaches such as olive waste and titanium allied with neat matching to end uses.
With clever leathers also turning up from Turkey, Brazil and the U.S. joint venture tanneries in Asia it is wrong to say this is a European monopoly but it is a skill that should not be overlooked. Today more raw material gets held through to finishing in African countries and elsewhere. An historic concern was always that raw material that used to make premium leathers when taken to Europe for tanning and finishing would stay in the emerging countries and end up down graded into much lower quality leathers. If this were true just at the moment that we are seeing a divide in the market considerable harm could occur to the image of leather.
Somehow, as an industry, we must resolve this dilemma. It would be a sad defeat resulting only from a lack of technical skill and imagination. Modern technology and the advancing use of robots and 3D printing means that the leather industry more than ever needs the extra value added of real craftsmanship and innovation. It is these latter two we must treasure and advance if the tanning industry overall is to secure its future and improve its margins.
Mike Redwood
1st March 2015.