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The rapidly growing collagen industry is changing the economics of leather production. Bovine hide splits are increasingly being bought for the production of collagen used in supplements, beauty products, food and medical applications. The result is reduced availability and rising prices for split suedes widely used in affordable and mid-range footwear.
The nappy surface of suede is very different from regular smooth leather, and people often seem to have less knowledge about some of its special characteristics. Two such things are the light streaks that commonly appear where the shoes bend, and how the nap can become completely flat after, for example, lying on its side in a shoe box. Here we explain why this happens and what you can do about it.
There’s some old textured leathers that has such a special character that becomes so popular that it’s copied as embossed leathers by plenty of other tanneries. The old Russian reindeer found on the shipwreck of Metta Catharina is likely the most famous one, another one is the German tannery Carl Freudenberg’s Impala grain.
For those really into shoes, shoemaking and leather old historic books about the topics are often gold mines of knowledge. It can be tricky to get a hold of old books though. Luckily, there’s some online sources that have ebooks for free, here I highlight some books on shoes and leather found on Project Gutenberg.
Leather wholesalers play a vital part of the shoe industry in every country of the world that produces leather footwear. Euroleathers is based in Northampton, England, and has been providing the local factories for decades as well as single hides to small independent shoemakers worldwide. Learn more about the work leather wholesalers do and get a behind the scenes insight of this sector of the shoe world.
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When smooth leather or embossed grain leathers and similar are bent it will crease, it’s the nature of this material. And this creasing can’t be removed, despite what many out there say. Here I explain the logical physics behind why shoes crease and why you can’t remove them more than temporarily.
This beautiful chelsea boot by the previous world champion of shoemaking, Wataru Shimamoto of Orma Shoemaker, is made in a very special Japanese leather called Shironameshi, made with an over 1,000 years old tanning technique, that use only salt and rapeseed oil.
Stricter animal welfare regulations in the European Union have changed the conditions of the skins that the tanneries receive, which in turn means that we customers need to change our mindset on what is a good skin and what is not. In this article I explain this further.
You might have experienced it yourself. Getting two pairs of shoes from the same brand, in the same size, made on the same last, yet one of the pairs are more loose than the other. Usually the reason is different leathers used, which preferences affect both how the shoes can be manufactured and the feel on the foot. Learn more in this article.
Last week, the winter edition of the world’s largest shoe fair, Micam, and the largest leather fair, Lineapelle, were held in Milan, Italy. Shoegazing was there, here’s a summary of the impressions from the fairs as a whole and from some selected exhibitors.
