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Browse a handpicked selection of World Leather articles, thought provoking topics ranging from fast fashion to zero waste are all here. Premium + and World Leather subscribers can delve deeper, with access to the industry beating archive of over 1,400 World Leather technical papers in the archive.
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18 April 2023
Pro animal and pro leather - leather, world leather Pro animal and pro leather
Free Content
Temple Grandin’s latest book reminds us that people really care about the animal welfare and land management behind their leather products. Forward-thinking businesses are embracing this and working smartly to ...
11 April 2023
Designers need to pick a side - leather, world leather Designers need to pick a side
Free Content
The chief executive of Arzignano-based leather manufacturer Gruppo Mastrotto has some straight-talking advice for young designers.
21 March 2023
A natural connection - leather, world leather A natural connection
Free Content
Spoor’s traceability capability helps a responsibly made German luxury brand forge ever-closer links with the land.
14 March 2023
What lies ahead for LCA and leather? - leather, world leather What lies ahead for LCA and leather?
Free Content
The leather sector’s engagement with LCA is likely to bear fruit if the industry can work out ways to use this science-based system to make it clear to customers that they stand to gain from using leather....
07 March 2023
Regenerative leather turns heads - leather, world leather Regenerative leather turns heads
Free Content
A leather producer that aims “to go beyond sustainability” ended 2022 on a high at a special event in London.
28 February 2023
Doubts remain about LCA - leather, world leather Doubts remain about LCA
Free Content
LCA is popular, but it has its critics too. Influential voices say it makes complex situations seem too simple and encourages comparisons that are based on information that is not meaningful enough.
21 February 2023
Gentle persuasion - leather, world leather Gentle persuasion
Free Content
This has happened more than once: a company makes public pronouncements about leaving leather behind it and draws opprobrium from people inside the industry’s active and loud but limited bubble.
16 February 2023
Lived experience of LCA - leather, world leather Lived experience of LCA
Free Content
Lifecycle assessment is such a hot topic that we are devoting the entire Thought Leadership section in this issue of World Leather to it.
10 January 2023
A revival of American savoir-faire - leather, world leather A revival of American savoir-faire
Free Content
Future-proofing creative expression from generation to generation is no easy task, but as craft-minded entrepreneurs have been forced to shutter their doors across the US, a clear case for learning how to...
03 January 2023
The last zero-waste obstacle - leather, world leather The last zero-waste obstacle
Free Content
“Customers ask about sustainability all the time and we want to be able to tell them that we represent a clean industry.” Verônica Meurer.
20 December 2022
Creative circularity - leather, world leather Creative circularity
Free Content
Nona Source has figured out how to turn LVMH fashion houses’ deadstock material into a dynamic and rich resource for innovative and flexible designers.
13 December 2022
Veja’s 180-degree turn - leather, world leather Veja’s 180-degree turn
Free Content
Since its publication of a carbon footprint report in 2021 that showed leather in a poor light, shoe company Veja has worked hard to improve its knowledge of the leather value chain, with encouraging results.
06 December 2022
Steeped in tradition - leather, world leather Steeped in tradition
Free Content
Fashion designer Walter Rodrigues finds himself becoming more and more fascinated by leather’s rustic appeal and he believes it can play an important role in fashion’s circular future.
29 November 2022
The race to trace - leather, world leather The race to trace
Free Content
Curtume Krumenauer has projects in place to use only renewable energy, to provide traceability on its raw material and to send wastewater and leather scraps for use in circular agricultural projects.
22 November 2022
Turning waste into raw material, the LIFE byProtVal project - leather, world leather Turning waste into raw material, the LIFE byProtVal project
Free Content
The Spanish footwear industry research centre INESCOP, under the framework of the LIFE ByProtVal project, has been working on the recovery of different protein-derived products from rendering residues...
19 October 2022
Fashion shows go big on upcycled leather - leather, world leather Fashion shows go big on upcycled leather
Free Content
At the start of the summer, a leading topic of conversation among fashion-watchers across Europe, following Fashion Week shows in Milan and Paris, was the creative use of leather in spring-summer 2023...
11 October 2022
Hit for six - leather, world leather Hit for six
Free Content
There are millions of people around the world who appreciate the perfection in a cricket ball.
07 October 2022
World Leather at 35 - leather, world leather World Leather at 35
Free Content
As the magazine celebrates its thirty-fifth birthday, we look back at its long list of achievements and pay tribute to the people involved.
04 October 2022
Loewe and the basket-cases - leather, world leather Loewe and the basket-cases
Free Content
Leathergoods brand Loewe used the 2022 Salone del Mobile in Milan as a platform for ‘Weave, Restore, Renew’, a project that breathes new life into old objects and materials.
27 September 2022
Circularity is in leather’s DNA - leather, world leather Circularity is in leather’s DNA
Free Content
The representative body of the leather industry in the European Union, COTANCE, says the ‘green transition’ the European Commission has called on the wider fashion industry to carry out is in the leather...
20 September 2022
Numbers game - leather, world leather Numbers game
Free Content
Former lawyer Juliette Angeletti has found designing handbags to be the perfect way of combining her fascination with the Golden Ratio, her love of traditional French craft skills, and her commitment to...
13 September 2022
The Higg takes a hit - leather, world leather The Higg takes a hit
Free Content
The leather industry has been waiting in hope for almost two years for the Sustainable Apparel Coalition to suspend the score it has devised for leather in its Higg Materials Sustainability Index. There was...
23 August 2022
Where usefulness and beauty embrace - leather, world leather Where usefulness and beauty embrace
Free Content
The artisans of the future have a glass ceiling that they must remove if they are to receive the support, training and qualifications their talents deserve. Spain’s Círculo Fortuny has launched a new project...
16 August 2022
Italy: committed to circularity - leather, world leather Italy: committed to circularity
Free Content
Italy’s national tanning industry association, UNIC, recently published its sustainability report for 2021. As it did in 2020, UNIC devotes an entire section of the new report to the commitment of Italian...
10 August 2022
Turning a dream into reality - leather, world leather Turning a dream into reality
Free Content
A seven-year-old leathergoods manufacturer, based on the Rustenberg Estate in South Africa, has already made positive changes to the lives of its workers, and already has customers willing to wait months to...
02 August 2022
Leather’s ties to the UN continue - leather, world leather Leather’s ties to the UN continue
Free Content
Building on the leather industry’s efforts to raise its voice at the COP26 Climate Change Conference last year, it is now playing an active part in another United Nations initiative, the world’s largest...
26 July 2022
Shaving foam, but not as you know it - leather, world leather Shaving foam, but not as you know it
Free Content
Founded in 2020 in G?rlitz in eastern Germany, eco-softfibre produces biodegradable flexible “foams”, upcycled from wet white leather shavings. Their work shows that the leather industry offers a route away...
19 July 2022
Cooling role for cattle farms - leather, world leather Cooling role for cattle farms
Free Content
An aggressive reduction in methane emissions from beef and dairy herds is achievable, Professor Mitloehner argues, taking cattle farming beyond climate neutrality and setting it up to help offset emissions...
28 June 2022
Fertiliser matters - leather, world leather Fertiliser matters
Free Content
One consequence of the war in Ukraine is a shortage, and huge hike in the cost, of materials for making fertilisers. This is sparking fears of food insecurity in the developing world.
21 June 2022
Sometimes the old notions are the best - leather, world leather Sometimes the old notions are the best
Free Content
Automotive company Polestar has said it wants to break away from traditional paradigms and has described using leather in car interiors as an “old notion”. But finding a leather supplier that can meet its...
14 June 2022
Le Marche: a special case - leather, world leather Le Marche: a special case
Free Content
The war in Ukraine has, understandably, dominated the headlines for months. One of the consequences that has largely gone unnoticed is its effect on the footwear sector in the Italian region of Le Marche.
07 June 2022
Olive-leaf options - leather, world leather Olive-leaf options
Free Content
Leather manufactured using Wet-Green’s tanning agent, developed from discarded olive leaves, has added to the sustainability story that Škoda is able to share with customers about its first purpose-built...
31 May 2022
Long-lasting and repairable - leather, world leather Long-lasting and repairable
Free Content
The European Union wants new rules that will give consumers the right to know how durable and easy-to-repair products are before they buy them.
17 May 2022
Cultural ties - leather, world leather Cultural ties
Free Content
A one-month secondment to share some of her leather technology knowledge with staff and students at Auezov University in Kazakhstan was enough to convince Professor Eser Eke Bayramoglu that the industry there ...
12 May 2022
Spray-on upholstery - leather, world leather Spray-on upholstery
Free Content
With deep roots in the furniture manufacturing sector, start-up Cooloo is making impressive inroads into the vibrant Dutch circular-economy scene with its innovative, waste-consuming leather upholstery.
10 May 2022
Patience pays off - leather, world leather Patience pays off
Free Content
Leathergoods brand Barnes and Moore values the beauty that comes from slow, considered manufacturing – an ethos it has in common with its supplier, J&FJ Baker, a tannery whose leathers take 14 months to...
03 May 2022
Road to recovery - leather, world leather Road to recovery
Free Content
Italy’s leather sector, encouraged by recent comments from Prime Minister Mario Draghi, can be optimistic about contributing to the country’s recovery from covid and to benefiting from a share of European...
26 April 2022
The zero-waste generation - leather, world leather The zero-waste generation
Free Content
A group of accessories designers is emerging now with a commitment to zero-waste that is so intense, they are not just willing to use leather offcuts, but they prefer to use this previously undervalued...
19 April 2022
Greenwashing has got to go - leather, world leather Greenwashing has got to go
Free Content
Years of work in the European Union to develop clear rules for calculating products’ environmental footprint are nearing their conclusion. The leather industry was an early and ardent contributor to this...
29 March 2022
In safe hands - leather, world leather In safe hands
Free Content
Footwear and leathergoods brands, keen to offer restoration services to their customers, have found a specialist partner they can rely on in The Restory.
22 March 2022
National award winner - leather, world leather National award winner
Free Content
The debate about the circular economy is gathering pace in many parts of the world. Leather sometimes seems to be on the periphery of these discussions, but in one South American country, Uruguay, the industry ...
15 March 2022
Erem’s biocircular ambitions - leather, world leather Erem’s biocircular ambitions
Free Content
The CEO of a new brand, and great-grandson of the Timberland founder, tells us how leather and sustainable materials are central to his desire to demonstrate a new way of working.
08 March 2022
Truly remarkable - leather, world leather Truly remarkable
Free Content
A record year for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for both sales and bespoke work means that its leather workshop is busier and more important than ever.
01 March 2022
An economist’s message of hope - leather, world leather An economist’s message of hope
Free Content
Some of Italy’s 4,000-plus footwear manufacturers are small and, at times, a little fragile, but Milan-based economist Enrica Baccini insists the Italian shoe industry as a whole is “anti-fragile”.
22 February 2022
Soling tradition will live on - leather, world leather Soling tradition will live on
Free Content
Oak bark-tanned leather soles are synonymous with high-quality handmade shoes, so it was a blow to hear in recent months of the loss of one of the oldest manufacturers of this product, J R Rendenbach in...

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