difficult

Chanel warns of two difficult years ahead

The French luxury fashion house forecasts two difficult years ahead for the luxury sector due to the coronavirus pandemic.

APLF 2020 cancelled

The next edition of the APLF-Leather, Materials+ and Fashion Access is now scheduled to take place on the usual dates, March 30 – April 1, 2021.

ANPIC spring 2020 edition cancelled

The Mexican Association of Suppliers for the Shoe Industry (Apimex) will not be holding the spring 2020 edition of ANPIC, initially scheduled to take place May 20-22 in Leon, Mexico.

Leather making is difficult, but we have to remain aware

Leather making is difficult. What we are doing is “conditioning” a natural material to stabilise the structure against bacteria and adjust it to perfectly serve its required end use.

We live and work in networks

If you listen to my wife, we would still be living in El Salvador, despite the fact that we worked there over forty years ago. At that time I was managing the tannery for the shoe company ADOC. We left because the beginnings of the long civil war were starting to make life both difficult and dangerous for all the family, as curfews, bombs and kidnappings made their impact on everyday life. 

Let’s start kicking butt

We are in the last days of a momentous year. For the first time, the industry has openly acknowledged that selling leather was difficult. It is no longer a given that every hide and skin collected will be made into leather.… and it will sell. 

Science must be to the fore

It is argued that the high status of scientific opinion in society began to disintegrate with the failure of nylon shirts to offer the benefits promised to consumers in terms of comfort and convenience; and creating the hydrogen bomb did not particularly endear scientists to the world either.

Weaker peso helping Argentina’s tanners

The Argentinean peso weakening against the US$ is said to be helping local tanneries regain competitivity, but the other costs that they have to sustain locally, still keep them much on the margins of international trade. The difficult situation in the internal market is also unhelpful in uplifting prices, with business described as sluggish. 

Click here to read more. 

Indian demand drop hits Kenyan exporters

The demand for low-grade hides out of Kolkata, India, was possibly one of the few segments in the hide market functioning until recently. It was helping the exporters in Kenya withstand an otherwise difficult situation and encouraged them to tan more raw hides.

Unfortunately, due to the many problems (including the recently introduced Goods & Services Tax) besetting the Indian industry, this life-line seems to have been all but interrupted for the time being. Due to the ongoing sluggishness of the Chinese destination, local exporters see hard times ahead.

For the latest raw materials prices and analysis from Kenya, Sauer report subscribers click here. 

Overall positive 2016 results for Volkswagen

The Volkswagen passenger car brand reported a generally positive full-year 2016 result as deliveries increased to 5.99 million vehicles, with good performance in Europe and the U.S. despite some difficult months.