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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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11 May 2021
Nontrivial pursuits - leather, world leather Nontrivial pursuits
Free Content
Take the high-speed train down from mountain-rimmed Seoul to coastal Busan and you cannot fail to spot South Korea’s trek-ready, hilly terrain, which winds itself up and down the country like a spine. Hiking...
04 May 2021
Radley – no underdog in luxury market - leather, world leather Radley – no underdog in luxury market
Free Content
The UK leathergoods brand has expansion firmly in its sights. Radley’s head of supply and development tells World Leather that a more sumptuous look, and increasing leather useage, is part of its growth...
27 April 2021
Cheap fossil fuels are the problem - leather, world leather Cheap fossil fuels are the problem
Free Content
Efforts to shift businesses to a circular-economy model are being undermined, the 2021 Davos audience hears, by fossil-fuel subsidies the size of the GDP of Japan.
20 April 2021
Bags that free hides from purgatory - leather, world leather Bags that free hides from purgatory
Free Content
Designer and developer of leather collections Moore & Giles has released a capsule collection of bags called Reclaimed. What sets it apart is that, on this occasion, the Virginia-based company has chosen hides ...
13 April 2021
Clear goals - leather, world leather Clear goals
Free Content
In early 2021, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation published a set of policy goals that make several things clear. The circular economy is the way for the world to put the current wasteful way of doing things...
01 April 2021
Total transparency - leather, world leather Total transparency
Free Content
A footwear company from Denmark believes that using leather that consumers can trace back to the farms that reared the cattle that supplied the hides strengthens its brand and enhances its sustainability story.
23 February 2021
New possibility for recycling leather scraps - leather, world leather New possibility for recycling leather scraps
Free Content
A US company has coined a way of turning tanneries’ waste into a new material without bonding with polymers; interested parties include Timberland...
18 February 2021
No contest - leather, world leather No contest
Free Content
The price of leather is at its most affordable for years and footwear producers shopping in the lower-quality range of the upper materials market...
16 February 2021
Tired of just talking about sustainability - leather, world leather Tired of just talking about sustainability
Free Content
A stimulating discussion with an insightful sustainable footwear expert and the extra time to think during months of lockdown were the catalysts that helped Silvateam...
11 February 2021
Too cool for fast fashion - leather, world leather Too cool for fast fashion
Free Content
Leather jackets seem popular again, which has come as no surprise to the founder of Boda Skins, Nathan Alexander.
09 February 2021
Farfetch tool too far-fetched - leather, world leather Farfetch tool too far-fetched
Free Content
The H2O-heavy calculation in a new fashion footprint tool from e-commerce platform Farfetch is comparatively unfair to leather.
04 February 2021
Beast to Beauty: Artisans win hands down - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Artisans win hands down
Free Content
Fendi set out to find artisans who still live and breathe traditional crafts from the different regions of Italy to work with the company on special editions of its Baguette bag.
30 November 2020
Beast to Beauty: Willique blends tropical notes with high-end appeal - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Willique blends tropical notes with high-end appeal
Free Content
The accessories brand creates employment in the Turks and Caicos and sees material selection as an integral part of its appeal.
23 November 2020
By human hand - leather, world leather By human hand
Free Content
Lexus chose a leather artisan, Otis Ingrams, to launch a new film series. The short documentaries highlight parallels between the work of Lexus's own master craftspeople (takumi) and that of skilled people...
16 November 2020
Metal-free and traceable - leather, world leather Metal-free and traceable
Free Content
Luxury group Kering has been running sustainability programmes since 2012. Its most recent sustainability goals set ambitious targets for its leathergoods brands and their suppliers in the tanning industry.
09 November 2020
Standards are on the way - leather, world leather Standards are on the way
Free Content
An initiative by French standards body Afnor has led to the possibility of new ISO standards on the circular economy. An ISO technical committee is already hard at work on this.
02 November 2020
The ultimate circular raw material - leather, world leather The ultimate circular raw material
Free Content
Smit & Zoon has launched a new company, Nera, through which it will bring to market tanning solutions that it describes as “truly sustainable”.
26 October 2020
Leather industry answers back - leather, world leather Leather industry answers back
Free Content
A row over the treatment of leather in the Higg Materials Sustainability Index has had two potentially positive consequences.
22 October 2020
Small-batch boots - leather, world leather Small-batch boots
Free Content
A footwear manufacturer, a tanner and a whiskey company mixed together centuries of know-how and craftsmanship to make a special-edition work boot.
07 September 2020
Beast to Beauty: Ethical shift - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Ethical shift
Free Content
The Cambridge Satchel Company’s iconic products have become world famous in the last decade.
31 August 2020
Secondhand luxury marketplace: a perfect home for leather - leather, world leather Secondhand luxury marketplace: a perfect home for leather
Free Content
The market for secondhand luxury goods is thriving, with leather leading the way.
24 August 2020
Ethiopia’s story ‘has just begun’ - leather, world leather Ethiopia’s story ‘has just begun’
Free Content
A Vivobarefoot and Pittards partnership has created jobs and opportunities in the African country. With brands looking at new sourcing destinations..
17 August 2020
Circling the wagons has to stop - leather, world leather Circling the wagons has to stop
Free Content
Chief sustainability officer at PrimeAsia, Fernando Bellese, accepts that leather faces “rough competition” from the makers of other materials, but says there are a number of important...
10 August 2020
Zero-waste heroes - leather, world leather Zero-waste heroes
Free Content
SICIT, a specialist producer of fertiliser and other products, has spent decades developing solutions to the age-old problem of how best to find a use for and extract value from the waste...
03 August 2020
The law is an asset - leather, world leather The law is an asset
Free Content
A new law protecting leather’s identity will come into force in Italy this October. It will provide greater clarity for consumers and protect them from sellers of synthetics that seek to deceive them.
Beast to Beauty: What else but leather? - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: What else but leather?
Free Content
A specialist consultancy has combined western materials, including leather from Scotland, and knowledge of Chinese culture and values to find an ideal fit ...
27 July 2020
Waste worth billions - leather, world leather Waste worth billions
Free Content
Statistics from France’s Conseil National Du Cuir provide a reminder of just how much value tanners and finished product manufacturers are able to add to hides.
20 July 2020
Rich heritage - leather, world leather Rich heritage
Free Content
Millau’s leather and glove manufacturers are at the heart of an ongoing effort to win UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status.
13 July 2020
Time to put the by-product debate to bed - leather, world leather Time to put the by-product debate to bed
Free Content
There are ill-founded arguments that the raw material for leather is a co-product rather than a by-product of the meat and dairy industries.
06 July 2020
Sacred Cow: It’s the How - leather, world leather Sacred Cow: It’s the How
Free Content
The Sacred Cow project is soon to release a book and a movie, making the case for an ethical, regenerative food system built around well-raised cattle.
29 June 2020
The transformation continues - leather, world leather The transformation continues
Free Content
The entire world is being rocked by the effects of covid-19 pandemic, but the European Commission wants to press ahead with its plans for a move to a circular economy.
08 June 2020
Beast to Beauty: Louboutin is loyal to leather - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Louboutin is loyal to leather
Free Content
Shoe designer Christian Louboutin has received encouragement to try out “fake” material in his collections in place of leather.
01 June 2020
Leather ‘holds so much promise’ for Niger - leather, world leather Leather ‘holds so much promise’ for Niger
Free Content
The Enhanced Integrated Framework tells World Leather how it is working with the government to modernise tanneries, train leather workers and set up more advanced systems for skin collection and exports.
25 May 2020
Limited editions, unlimited creativity - leather, world leather Limited editions, unlimited creativity
Free Content
Designer Frederikke Antonie Schmidt’s decision to build a high heels label using leather offcuts from other brands has resulted in a shoe collection that is dynamic, playful and sustainable.
18 May 2020
A material for keeping - leather, world leather A material for keeping
Free Content
Entrepreneur Arturas Kanapkis discovered that stylish bags made from Tuscan vegetable-tanned leather chimed perfectly with his love and respect for ageless elegance, allowing him to build up his own...
11 May 2020
What a waste - leather, world leather What a waste
Free Content
Industry body the Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) has calculated that 5.5 million hides generated by the US livestock industry in 2019 failed to reach the leather value chain.
27 April 2020
Keep the wheels turning - leather, world leather Keep the wheels turning
Free Content
The director of industry body Leather UK, Dr Kerry Senior, argues here that, just as the covid-19 crisis has brought new and deserved appreciation for a number of previously unrecognised...
06 April 2020
Beast to Beauty: Deerskin suits become ‘new trademark’ - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Deerskin suits become ‘new trademark’
Berluti’s historic love of leather is reinterpreted on the catwalk for autumn-winter 2020.
30 March 2020
Hand in glove - leather, world leather Hand in glove
Free Content
Start-up brand Nordic Moose is intent on preventing raw material in Sweden and Finland from going to waste, while preserving traditional, artisan glove-making skills in Hungary.
23 March 2020
Waste squared - leather, world leather Waste squared
Free Content
Barcelona-based entrepreneur Josep Riera has no personal history in the leather industry, but he has been travelling to and doing business in India for years.
16 March 2020
Pathways for smaller companies - leather, world leather Pathways for smaller companies
Free Content
An important part of the leather industry’s circular economy credentials is that, in this value chain, companies of all sizes are able to see the way forward from linear to circular production.
09 March 2020
A yearning for the real thing - leather, world leather A yearning for the real thing
Free Content
Leather has every right to claim its place in the circular economy. Makers and sellers of synthetic materials that misuse the term ‘leather’ to confuse the public and make money under false pretences present a ...
02 March 2020
Leather’s circular economy stars of the future - leather, world leather Leather’s circular economy stars of the future
Free Content
A third intake of students began a new ‘Green Leather Manager’ course in the Italian region of Veneto this academic year.
Beast to Beauty: Raeburn pushes Timberland towards ‘closed loop’ - leather, world leather Beast to Beauty: Raeburn pushes Timberland towards ‘closed loop’
Free Content
The brand’s creative director urges greater push towards ‘three pillars’ of sustainability.
24 February 2020
Companies must step up - leather, world leather Companies must step up
Free Content
France’s main leather industry association, the Conseil National du Cuir, successfully organised the first Sustainable Leather Forum in Paris in the autumn.

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