Leather and textiles

Leather and textiles

Leather is one of the most widely traded commodities in the world. The leather and leather products industry plays an important role in the world’s economy. About 3/4 of all leather comes from bovine hides and skins, followed by sheep, pig and goats. According to the Conseil National du Cuir (also known as the French Leather Council), Italy was the world’s largest exporter of tanned hides with a market share of 22% in 2018, followed by Brazil at 9.9% of global exports, the United States at 4.8% and India at 4.7%. According to the French Leather Council, 33% of the value of footwear and 40% of leather goods exported worldwide came from Europe in 2018. At the global level France and Italy were the two main European exporters of leather goods, thanks to their positioning on the luxury market. In value terms, 58% of the leather goods exported worldwide came from Asia, with 40% coming from Europe. Historically, about 65% of leather went into footwear, but this proportion has been on a steady decline and by 2008, less than 50% per cent of footwear was made of leather. 

On the other hand, there has been growth in leather upholstery and other leather products. 

The automobile upholstery sector used to be an important end user before seeing a levelling off of demand as synthetic leather became more acceptable to consumers. Tanners procure raw or cured hides and convert them into semifinished or finished leather. However, there are many stages involved in the processing of leather, and a tanner may perform the total processor just a segment of the processing. Finishers and processors generally convert semi-finished leather leather into finished leather, which is then used by leather product manufacturers in the production of footwear, wearing apparel, and other products. There are four basic stages in the tanning process: pretanning, tanning, retanning, and finishing. The footwear, garment, furniture, automotive and leather goods industries are the most important outlets for tanners' production. Leather is the tanning sector's fundamental output. It is an intermediate industrial product, with applications in downstream sectors of the consumer goods industry. The largest product groups are footwear, followed by furniture, automotive, leather goods and clothes. In the EU the leather and related goods sector comprises around 36,000 enterprises and generates a turnover of about EUR 48 billion. These companies in the EU employ around 435,000 people. Italy is a leading leather exporter (it is a leading importer of hides and skins which are then processed by the country’s tanners). The U.S. is a large producer of wet/salted hides and skins and has a herd of over 90 million heads of cattle supported by well-established domestic consumption and export demand for meat and dairy products.

The availability of the raw material depends on demand factors impacting dairy and meat consumption, while the demand for the finished product (leather) depends on a variety of factors related to the economy and is influenced by specific factors affecting specific end use industrial sectors such as the automotive or the garment industries. At retail value level the global textile and fashion industry is reportedly valued at 3 trillion USD across segments including luxury goods, menswear, womenswear, bridalwear, childrenswear, sportswear and occupational uniforms. It features a constellation of global brands such as H&M, Zara, Next, Adidas, Nike, Hermes, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada, Burberry and Armani. Raw materials include cellulose fibres such as cotton, animal such as wool or silk, and features non-cellulosic polymers such as polyester, nylon or acrylic.

Keywords

Keywords: leather, hides, skins, tanners, tanning, footwear, shoes, apparel, leather products, garment, furniture, automotive, automobile upholstery, handbags, luxury goods, textile and fashion industry, menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, sportswear, global brand, cotton, wool, silk, polyester, nylon, acrylic, H&M, Zara, Next, Adidas, Nike, Hermes, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada, Burberry, Armani