David Peters urges leather industry to mend “fractured” relationship with consumers
25/09/2018
He describes expecting prices to rebound simply because that it what has historically happened is “wishful thinking” and that continuing to operate in this mindset is “insanity”.
In his latest column, published on September 25, Mr Peters says a number of things must be accomplished in order to reposition leather in the material market. They include countering the arguments in favour of synthetics and highlighting the attributes of leather.
His most emphatic suggestion is that the industry must do more to promote the connection between leather and the end consumer, a relationship he says is “fractured”. He expresses doubt that this can be achieved, however, due to a lack of unity between participants in the leather sector. “Getting all sectors of the leather industry to form a cohesive strategy or opinion is more challenging than herding cats,” he says.
Mr Peters also insists that the leather industry must accept that it has lost the battle for the casual and athletic footwear market to synthetic materials, and focus on the sectors that have less competition from manmade substitutes.
Although there is better news from other segments, such as the auto leather industry and the furniture and handbag sectors, these areas do not offer enough demand to absorb total hide production, which is currently very high, a situation that Mr Peters expects to continue through all of 2019. This means hide prices are likely to remain low for at least the next 12 months, he says.
The full column can be accessed here.
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