WHERE DOES THE LEATHER COME FROM?

Having been asked this question many times over the years, the simple answer is -
From the hide of the animal.

No-one can say this is an English, Brazilian or Italian leather with any degree of certainty.

Here's the latest information of cattle populations - top 10 countries.

India        282m
Brazil       187m
China       139m
USA          96m
EU             87m
Argentina    51m
Australia     29m
Mexico       26m
Russ Fed    18m
S.Africa      14m

But here's the top six countries producing tanned leather

China, Italy, India, Brazil, Korea, USSR.

In other words, the hides are often shipped to another country for processing. For example one UK company buys hides in Eire, ships them in refrigerated containers to a tannery in Italy, and re-imports the finished leather to the UK.

Remember that leather is a by-product of the beef and dairy industries.
The hide typically is just 5% of the value of the animal.

Just to finish off the basic facts, finished leather is used in these products

65% footwear
15% furniture and automotive
15% clothing
5%   leathergoods

In this webshop products are carefully described.
If an item is made in Italy that is made clear....although the leather may have come from any where in the world as shown above.
Italian tanneries are rated the best.

The Chinese products that are made with leather imported from Italy could be described as "Italian leather bags", which is true but misleading...so they are always described as made from Italian leather.

80%+ of the world's leather goods are now made in China...now that's something you may be certain of!

Here's an excellent selection of leather briefcases to choose from. www.theleatherbriefcase.co.uk

Lemmings

Lemmings are small rodents, notable for prodigious breeding, often followed by mass migrations to find new food sources.

They obey a herd instinct, and will attempt to overcome any obstacle in their way.

If this is a cliff....the story is true...they charge straight on, into the sea, and swim till they perish.

What made me think of this?
I'm fascinated by business, and why companies rise and fall.

Tescos has just lost 20% of it's share price...due to reduced turn-over at Xmas which has been well-publicised in the "Daily Lemming" and on Lemming Channel XX.
[ Proprietor  - Lord Rupert of Fleece the Lemmings-on-Sea. ]

Warren Buffett [ the legendary investor ] was buying into more Tesco straight away.
Upped his holding from 3 to 5% I believe.
It's an excellent company, with tangible assets, great management and frankly it's like buying £10 notes for £8 each.

Do you remember 6 years ago when Friends Reunited was sold for £175 million?
Latest figures value it at just over 3% of that...just £5.2m...ouch!
Great idea, but it was a fad...and peaked...and fell off the cliff.
There was no real long-term substance to it once people had used it.

So, let me forecast, that Facebook has got all the investor lemmings in tow.
How many $billion is it worth !!
Did you know it's lost millions of accounts in North America recently.
What is it's long term attraction...how does it make money?
Advertisement revenue is a highly volatile income ...

Whichever way the lemmings are going, look very carefully in the opposite direction.