New issue of World Leather out now
The April-May 2026 issue of World Leather is out now and available read online here.
An important article that we have devoted substantial space to this time is our report of the confusing comments Kering made about leather in mid-April at the capital markets day the group hosted in Florence.
That day, new chief executive, Luca De Meo, insisted that leather is central to the group’s identity and to its quest for higher revenues. But during the same presentation he also said Kering should “decouple growth” from its dependency on leather.
We have tried to unpack this as best we can but are still unable to offer an explanation of how these two positions can co-exist. We have asked Kering for further help, but wait, still, for a response from the Rue de Sèvres.
Elsewhere in the April-May issue of the magazine, the new chairman of India’s Council for Leather Exports, Ramesh Kumar Juneja, features in our Leather Leaders interview, and we bring you a round-up of APLF 2026 in Hong Kong.
Technology articles focus on new, biopolymer-based tanning techniques at Pangea and the introduction of important certification initiatives in Japan.
Leather and the Circular Economy features bring news of a supply chain collaboration programme that UNIC and Spin 360 have led and that has already flagged up examples of carbon-neutral leather. The views of Salone Del Mobile president, Maria Porro, on furniture’s role in the Made In Italy phenomenon are there too.
We bring news of how far Turkish footwear manufacturers seem willing to spread their sourcing net in a bid to secure reliable volumes of good-quality leather. Scottish Leather Group’s new biofoam division also features, as does a critique of the contrasts we might see between the circular policies in the European Union’s forthcoming Circular Economy Act and those in China’s new Five-Year Plan. We ask out loud where the policies are most likely to become practice first.
We hope you enjoy the whole of this issue.
