Many industries in Bangladesh discharge their effluents directly and/or indirectly onto land or into small channels leading to the nearby rivers. A study of four tanneries has found that almost all are violating the set effluent standards, and polluting near by rivers, agricultural land and soil. Ashraful Alam, from the Bangladesh College of Leather Technology, suggests this is due to a lack of proper resources and commitment of the Government. He reviews the steps that have to be taken to achieve a move towards compliance of the environmental quality standards for the betterment of the environment and to reduce the impact on health

By Anthony D Covington, Emeritus Professor of Leather Science, BSLT, University of Northampton.
Reviewed by Dr Graham Lampard

The next edition of Le Cuir A Paris will present all the latest in leather trends for the autumn/winter 2010-2011 season. The show will take place between September 15-18 in Hall 4 at the Parc des Expositions in Paris Nord Villepinte. At the same event in 2008 a total of 12,773 visitors attended.

Dr Victoria Addy, technical director, BLC Leather Technology Centre, reviews the latest developments in enzyme technology for the leather industry

The British School of Leather Technology (BSLT), part of the University of Northampton, celebrated 100 years of leather education with a host of events over the weekend of July 17-19. The centenary event culminated in a banquet and fashion show featuring leather outfits and accessories designed by university students. The centenary celebration, which took place in the lawns of the university’s Park Campus, was attended by 250 guests from around the world representing current and former BSLT students, the tanning, footwear, supplier and other industry related businesses.

Leather Wise have announced that Christine Powley-Williams will be leaving the company at the end of August to take up a senior position at Satra Technology Centre Ltd. Powley-Williams states ‘My departure is entirely amicable and, with Amanda Michel’s expertise, Leather Wise will continue to grow its successful training and fault diagnosis services to the industry’. Co-director of Leather Wise, Amanda Michel, said ‘I would like to thank Christine for her contribution in setting up Leather Wise and wish her every success in her new career and am looking forward to working with her again in October when Leather Wise and Satra have a joint leather training course’.

Simon Paver has joined the BLC technical services team as chemical support and regulatory advisor. Paver, who graduated from the University of the West of England, Bristol, in 2005, obtained a first class honours degree in biological and medicinal chemistry with a final-year project focusing on the synthesis and analysis of complex antimicrobials.

Natuzzi, the world leader in leather upholstery, has appointed Matt Gayleard as country manager for the UK. Gayleard will report directly to regional manager, Cosimo Cavallo. Gayleard has worked with Natuzzi nearly three years, initially appointed as head of product and marketing, and most recently as UK brand director.

Satra have expanded their range of environmental services after announcing that Mark Buckley has been appointed to the newly created role of health, safety and environmental manager at the company's Northamptonshire base.

Dr Alberto Sofia retired at the end of June 2009 having served a long career with the Argentine Leather Research Centre (CITEC) spanning 57 years. During this time he made many friends in the leather industry and at other academic institutions around the world. Sofia has been instrumental in developing and encouraging new leather technologies within the Argentine and Latin American leather industries and institutions.

During a global teleconference the IULTCS executive committee unanimously appointed Dr Dietrich Tegtmeyer as the new head of the IULTCS Research Commission (IUR). Dr Tegtmeyer takes over from Dr Volkan Candar who helped found the commission in 2006.

LANXESS, one of the leading suppliers of chemicals for the leather industry, have added two new soft acrylic base coat resins to their range of finishing products. The two waterborne polyacrylate dispersions Prima SB-110 and 
Prima SB-155 are manufactured by The Dow Chemical Company and marketed by LANXESS Leather business unit.

Prices rose on all categories since our last report as the rapid run up on prices seen in July continued into August. After closing at the end of July at $53, heavy Texas steers advanced subsequently, albeit in limited volume due to sellers only offering sparingly, if at all. Prices seen on a c&f basis were as high as $63. However, they appeared to be much lower than normal due to a lack of offerings.

Going into the holidays, I cannot help repeating myself but it astonishes me to see that the world is crying for (good quality) hides and paying more every day, while under company news we read that all big leather brands are selling less and there is more misery about further job losses, people spending less etc etc.

The interest in hides from China has continued right through the summer with demand across the whole weight spectrum. A huge demand for 46kg+ has also been seen which is surprising as this is a weight of hides not normally sold in China in large numbers. This has caused prices to move on sharply again and as always with such steep increases in hide prices there is the fear that sharp declines could be just around the corner.

Federally Inspected Slaughter in the four week period ended August 7, 2009, amounted to an average weekly kill of 627,000 (655,500 in our previous report). This was down 5.1% on the previous year when the weekly kill averaged out at 670,750.

The Taiwanese leather sector has a history of more than 60 years and today there are around 60 tanneries in the country. Since the 1990s, Taiwanese tanneries have started to relocate abroad, establishing their factories and investing in Thailand, Mainland China and Vietnam. Nowadays, there are more than 40 Taiwanese owned tanneries established in these countries. The production capacity of all Taiwanese tanneries is about 45-60 million square feet per month, of which 80% of all leathers are supplied to the well-known international branded footwear makers.

Much coverage in this edition of the magazine is given over to the powerful and influential people, organisations and companies both within and outside the tanning industry. For the first time in our industry we present the Leather International Power List Top 20 featuring those who are considered to be 20 of the most influential and successful people within our industry (see page 24).

While writing this month’s article I had a very interesting dialogue with one of Greenpeace’s public relations people. From this (edited) dialogue you can see that the perception of environmental organisations is set against the leather industry without actually knowing anything about our industry. That is not their fault. It’s our own fault because we have not been able to convey the real nature of our industry. Our professional organisations, which I have criticised on more than one occasion, are not properly representing us. We must get rid of the label that animals are killed for their hides, and that we pollute in the transformation process. Greenpeace added to this our responsibility as accessories to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. How long will it take before people are objectively informed that we are a solution to an insurmountable problem, namely the transformation of a by-product that would be a health hazard worldwide if there were no hide and skin trade or leather industry.

I am not a tree hugger and I have not one single good word for PETA, therefore I suppose that the title of this Limeblast ‘Greenpeace’ surprises you. I read in this magazine (July page 6) and a daily newspaper about this report that Greenpeace have published about the Amazon and its relation with the meat and leather industry in Brazil. You can find this article on the web at http://www.greenpeace. org/international/press/reports/slaughtering- the-amazon and it presents very interesting reading about matters that we have little or no knowledge about. Reading the Greenpeace article, of which you find bits and pieces woven into my text, I believe that any code of conduct should include also the refusal to buy hides and skins from those companies that profit from the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

DyStar Textilfarben GmbH, DyStar Textilfarben GmbH & Co Deutschland KG as and DyStar Holdings GmbH – global providers of dyes, auxiliaries and services for the textile and leather processing industry - have all filed an insolvency petition with the local court Frankfurt am Main for the company’s business operations located in Germany.

Italian beamhouse machinery specialists, Costruzioni Meccaniche Persico, will be launching a new full hide fleshing machine at the Tanning Tech 2009 show in Bologna next month. The show will take place October 13-25 at the Bologna Fiera alongside Lineapelle.

To coincide with the XXX IULTCS congress, which is due to take place in the Beijing International Hotel, Beijing, China, October 11-14, Leather International magazine will be publishing a review of the greatest ever leather scientists.

UNIC, the Italian tanners' association and organiser of the Lineapelle leather fair hosted a Trend Selection mini exhibition in London on September 9. A similar event also took place in New York earlier this month. A small group of 12 Italian tanners and one from Spain showed highlights of their autumn/winter 2010/11 collections to invited buyers and designers at the one-day event.

Following the 80^th AGM meeting of the International Council of Hides, Skins and Leather Traders Associations in Shanghai on September 3 the council have decided to leave the contents of the International Contract number Six unchanged. The Chinese delegation had requested that the contract be changed but following opposition from the delegates from Australia, USA and France among others it was agreed to keep the contract unchanged.

The Italian tanners' association UNIC issued a statement at the beginning of September committing their members to social and environmental responsibilities drawn up by the EU to trade unions.

Complete Leatherwork, the brand new book by the designer Katherine Pogson covers all aspects of working with leather, from basic materials, threads, dyes, and adhesives to pattern making, skiving, channelling, and even more advanced skills such as moulding and surface decoration.

As part of its comprehensive comfort testing programme (which includes advanced moisture management test AMMT, and whole shoe thermal insulation test WSTIT), Satra Technology Centre, located in the UK, have designed and created a new small size 'sweating foot' component to meet growing demand to test women's and children's footwear for breathability and comfort.

PrimeAsia Leather Corporation have announced that its China tannery has been upgraded to gold status and its Taiwan tannery has maintained its silver status following being reaudited against the Leather Working Group (LWG) environmental protocol.

One of the world's largest leather suppliers, and Brazil's second-largest beef exporter have backed Greenpeace's call for a moratorium on the purchase of cattle from farms involved in new deforestation in the Amazon with immediate effect. Tough new sourcing policies from Clarks and others said to be instrumental in decision.

Bridge of Weir Leather Company, part of Scottish Leather Group, announced on September 3, that it is to launch a joint venture in China as demand for their hides continues to increase.

The All China Leather Exhibition got underway on September 2 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre covering five halls and featuring the CIFF and Moda Shanghai shows also.