Famous leather football brand moves to new factory
15/03/2012
The company, Sherrin, has been making footballs for Australian Football since 1880 and is still the official ball of the Australian Football League. It moved to new premises in the Scoresby area of Melbourne at the start of March because, it says, demand for its leather footballs is higher than ever. It produced more than 100,000 balls last year and intends to increase production at the new factory. The product is still handmade from locally tanned leather. The process still begins with leather picked “from only the choicest hides” from local tannery Joshua Pitt, pared into panels and rolled manually. Groups of four panels that Sherrin experts judge to be compatible are backed with canvas. A heated stencil marks out the Sherrin name before the ball is three-quarter-sewn inside out. Pushed into shape from within, the ball is then hand-stitched for the last quarter of its length.
Australian Football is the most popular form of football in Australia, with almost 700,000 registered players across the country and large crowds spectating at top games. Now owned by US sports group Russell Athletic, the Sherrin name is still synonymous with the sport, so much so that the ball is often referred to as “the Sherrin”.
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