Browse Features 2021 January - leatherbiz: Leading news site for

14 December 2021

The big carmakers are accelerating their electric vehicles programmes, but the contradiction in the desire to move away from fossil fuels for power yet use more fossil fuel-based synthetics in the interiors...

07 December 2021

A journey through time

Few have the design pedigree of Ramesh Nair, artistic director of French luxury house Joseph Duclos. He is a pivotal part of a new set up for the revived brand, which first made its name as a privileged...

30 November 2021

Stats prove animals-for-leather claims are false

Leather is available to us because livestock farmers raise animals to supply meat and dairy companies. It is demand for food rather than the desire for leather that leads to those animals going to slaughter....

23 November 2021

Industry’s angry reaction to Volvo

Announcements from automotive company Volvo that it is ending its use of leather has prompted an unusually fierce, but justifiable, response from the industry.

09 November 2021

A COP26 call to arms

Leather industry bodies have joined forces to ask the COP26 summit to recognise the benefits of using leather and other natural materials instead of allowing brands and consumers to develop an “unnecessary...

28 September 2021

Entrepreneurial spirit

Help is at hand for leather-sector start-ups in France in the shape of incubator body Au Delà du Cuir (ADC). More than 60 small companies have received a boost from it already. As the industry seeks to rebuild ...

21 September 2021

Sieme weaves leather waste network

The founder of a new accessories brand predicts a more collaborative way of working that gives Italian artisans a bigger influence on design. She is also helping to boost ASPRI, a new association that gives...

14 September 2021

Doctor’s orders

Few brands have kept pace with the times as well as the seemingly ever-present Dr Martens, which remains fashionably relevant following wave after wave of popular culture. World Leather catches up with the...

06 September 2021

Industry challenges Veja’s leather decision

Veja has published the results of a lifecycle assessment (LCA) exercise, claiming that it shows raw materials to contribute more than 70% of its total carbon footprint, with leather accounting for almost all...

30 August 2021

A century of tradition

German outdoor brand Hanwag’s manufacturing techniques enable easy resoling for boots that are eminently durable, and it is proud of its longstanding partnership with German tannery Heinen.

24 August 2021

Same leather, a new look at jobs

A new circular strategy for leather and textiles, soon to be released by the European Union (EU), promises to underscore the significant role leather continues to play in promoting a fair and closed-loop...

05 August 2021

A new approach to sourcing leather

Mulberry wants its customers to think of buying its bags as a way to contribute towards saving the world.

03 August 2021

French resistance

The president of France’s Conseil National du Cuir (CNC), Frank Boehly, has continued his campaign to confirm leather’s circular-economy credentials in recent weeks, not least in a stout defence of leather in...

29 July 2021

Circular material from leather waste

Innovative yarn producer Spinnova is adding leather to the list of natural raw materials it can work with. KT Trading is lending its weight and its waste to the idea. Two major footwear brands, adidas and...

27 July 2021

Late lessons in luxury

As Diego Della Valle, the CEO of leathergoods group Tod’s, mulls stepping back from the day-to-day running of the company, he considers how the market has matured – and says he has changed his mind about what...

22 July 2021

Milestones for Gruppo Dani

One of Italy’s most prominent leather manufacturing groups is celebrating a series of recent achievements on its path towards embracing circular-economy principles.

20 July 2021

Links for luxury’s loops

While the classic luxury experience was crafted to surprise and delight, a new narrative is gaining ground, with deep roots in preserving the beauty of the natural world and its resources through...

15 July 2021

Flaws in Farm to Fork

Multistakeholder group European Livestock Voice has flagged up nine contradictions in the Farm To Fork strategy. Leather industry body COTANCE is one of the signatories of a joint statement highlighting these...

06 July 2021

Eastern promise

Italian footwear group Sergio Rossi is betting big on Asia with a new direction in its 70th year. Its CEO has placed great emphasis on sustainability, with the factory now running on green energy.

29 June 2021

Material choices matter

The circular economy vision that has emerged from William McDonough’s early work on Cradle To Cradle suggests that we must make less, buy less and consume less. If this is to work, the things we do buy and use ...

22 June 2021

The sustainable €6 million bag

Bologna-based luxury brand Boarini Milanesi broke a world record last year when it launched a new version of its Parva Mea model, the most expensive handbag in the world. The eye-watering price-tag supports...

15 June 2021

Shoes blaze Budget-Day trail

The first woman in Canada to become minister of finance, Chrystia Freeland, delivered her inaugural federal budget speech on April 19. As detailed here, fine leather shoes from Italy had an important role to...

08 June 2021

Flair for repair

France’s Conseil National du Cuir believes specialist shoe repair professionals are fervent defenders of circular-economy values.

01 June 2021

Hand, head and heart

Following consumer backlash and mounting regulation surrounding fashion’s clandestine practice of destroying leftover merchandise, enterprising luxury houses have looked within to find ways of beautifying...

25 May 2021

Time to tell leather’s circular story

The European Commission is pressing ahead with its plans to bring in official policies, and even legislation, to determine what is and what is not a sustainable product. A public consultation is under way,...

11 May 2021

Nontrivial pursuits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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.