International Leather Maker

The “circular” argument applied to hides and skins as waste material from the livestock industry, especially given the quantities being thrown away in the U.S. and elsewhere, has now been widely understood and is being openly discussed in the press as well as the materials industry. The connection between the tanner and the farmer nevertheless […]

When we began to establish Leather Naturally, we tried to engage designers to support leather as a material. There were many great believers in leather but few willing to speak out publicly. We were told that the design industry recognised Stella McCartney as a fanatic, but they were not willing to engage despite her talking […]

Once upon a time – and 800,000 years is a long time – the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere fluctuated between 180 parts per million (ppm) and 280 ppm. Carbon dioxide is mostly emitted by the burning of fossil fuels, and it stays in the atmosphere for centuries. After the industrial revolution, with […]

When I asked a neighbour in our tiny English village whether he liked his new electric vehicle (EV), he responded that while he thought it a very expensive purchase, he was ecstatic that a full charge (using a special overnight EV economy rate) only cost £10 (US$11.90). This is less than a tenth of what […]

Given that our industry has been so fragmented it was amazing that the Manifesto was produced at all and shows the changes in its public voice that the leather industry has made over the last five+ years, having previously quite aggressively opposed getting together to defend leather’s market share and publicise its consumer and societal […]

Is the global malaise pushing us all into a rut? We spent years talking about the speed of change and searching the horizons for disruptive change that would revolutionise our marketplace. With new synthetics, the accelerating environmental agenda, changing generations and ageing societies, the global economic centre of gravity shifting eastwards and the massive increase […]

Is it a portent or a confirmation? It was clearly significant when I discovered that, after 23 years, the famous restaurant M on the Bund, on the seventh floor at 5 The Bund, had closed earlier this year. In China, things change rapidly and, during the pandemic, keeping up to date has been a challenge, […]

It is an oversimplification to define Charles Booth by three things, but for a person with an incredible tally, these three stand out. In terms of progress, how would you rate them? The discovery and commercialisation of chrome tanning (it is a long story but without his support for innovation, that meeting in Racky’s restaurant […]