Leather and Fashion join forces
12/12/2008
Fashion students were presented with 100 top-quality animal skins to create a collection for two special catwalk shows that will celebrate the centenary of the British School of Leather Technology (BSLT), now part of the University of Northampton, next year.
Sateesh Jadhav, president of Chennai-based leather company Gaitonde, donated the leather in support of centenary celebrations during his visit to the university in December, promising a further 100 vegetable-tanned skins early in 2009. The leather will be used by students across the university's Fashion disciplines to create unique designs for a fashion show at the APLF exhibition in Hong Kong in March, and a showcase at the university's own special celebration in July.
One of Mr Jadhav's relatives trained at an early incarnation of BSLT in the 1930s, and his father studied at Nene College (which later became the university) 30 years later.
“Young designers hold the key to the future of the leather industry,” he said during his December visit. “There is a huge market in India among young people to have something funky rather than traditional, and students across the world can deliver this.”
He added: “Global warming has contributed to increased parasite infestations on livestock which causes defects in the leather produced. This sets a challenge for designers to work around these imperfections while still producing quality products. The world’s rising temperatures will also change the type of footwear produced in the future.”
In other news from the BSLT, Daniel Dose and Sven Hofmann from Dose Systems travelled from Germany in December to finalise the installation of four multi-functional Dose drums in the school's own tannery. The high tech, internet-linked equipment is a welcome addition to the tannery, a facility that the school is working hard to develop so that current and future leather students have the best possible education to prepare them for an international market.
There was also a visit from Jacques Daamen from Netherlands-based chemical company Stahl, who gave leather technology students an introduction to new and traditional re-tanning chemicals and dyes.
He said afterwards: “It was a pleasure to teach such interested students, who had many questions to ask.”
Stahl will return to BSLT later in the academic year for further demonstrations.
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