Tanneries and locations: There are five tanneries in the group and three finished product sites:
1. Muhammad Shafi Tanneries, Karachi. Finished kid and goat for shoe upper and lining
2. M Muhammad Shafi & Co, Karachi. Finished leather from sheep and lambskins for clothing and gloving
3. Siddiq Leather Works, Lahore. Finished leather from cow and buffalo hides for footwear and clothing
4. Hafeez Shafi Tanneries, Lahore. Doubleface lambskins and kid/goat nappa for shoe uppers and lining
5. Sihui Shafi Leathers China, Sihui City, Guangdong. Finished leather for kid/goatskins for shoe upper and lining
Production: Capacity from the five tanneries is over 5 million square feet per month with tanneries typically operating at 90% capacity. Produce footwear, garment and lining leathers from ovine, caprine and bovine raw materials. Total group turnover is around $100 million per annum with 80% exported. All eight manufacturing sites are managed by three generations of the Shafi family under the overall supervision of a five member executive committee headed by Muhammad Shafi.
Tannery employees: 2800 across the whole group
Key customers/brands: Gabor Shoes, Peter Kaiser, Ara Shoes, J B Martin, Chaussures Maurice, Camper, Marks & Spencer, Clarks, Next, Esquire, Nine West, Wolverine, Liz Claiborne, Coach and Mirza International
Other information:
In addition to the five tanneries the group also produces 100,000 pairs of footwear per month, 5,000 garment pieces and they have their own specialty leather chemicals company, Shafi Reson Chem.
Muhammad Shafi completed a BSc and MSc in chemistry from the University of Karachi in 1965. He has been involved in the leather business for 45 years and served as chairman of the Pakistan Tanners’ Association for three terms in 1975-76, 1976-77 and 1991-92. He was awarded ‘businessman of the year’ in 1985-86 by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry. Shafi has been at forefront of the development of the tanning industry in Pakistan and has represented his country on UNIDO’s Leather Expert panel.
As well as his business interests Muhammad Shafi is also involved with social welfare and charitable work as managing trustee of the Muhammad Shafi Trust and heads a number of governing bodies for educational institutions.