Dr Leather gets a new job!!!!!!!

Well today I started my new job as Head of Research for a company called Grip Technology AG. This is a Swiss based company that is an innovation and production solutions think-tank for products to be used in the sporting goods and military sectors. One of our clients is Nomis, the relatively new, yet very much up-and-coming, sports brand. We'll be doing a lot of work for them with regards to their leather, textiles and thermoplastic requirements, along with sourcing and designing many of their new glove and footwear products. Here's a PR photo from this morning!!!! 

This is a great opportunity for me to 'jump the fence' so to speak and actually move more into the sectors where the large brands operate. We already have some very cool ideas that we'd like to develop and offer to market, so you should see some of them quite soon. 

Regards,

Dr Leather

Gloving Leathers

So far in my posts, I've centered upon leathers and aspects relating to their use in the sports footwear industry.

This post turns its attention to the leather used in sporting gloves, and some of the core attributes and technologies.

My passion started with gloving leathers when I first started in the leather trade, and in my first job as an R&D drum runner at Pittards. It was amazing the wealth of technologies and processing steps involved in making a hairsheep leather (maybe more commonly known in the consumers world as cabretta leather) that was technically advanced and yet still ultra soft.

The biggest thing with gloving leathers is that they tend to have a lower chrome tanning content than footwear. As such the sweat that you perspire contains components that effectively 'cleave' the tannage and this is what happens when the leather not only shrinks, but dries very hard and cracks. No doubt you've seen this on a lot of the cheaper end golf gloves, and that is primarily due to the leather being made with basic technology in Indonesian tanneries, despite all the cool, fancy marketing names given to the leather. There are, however, a few companies that insist on high spec leathers, such as Nomis, Footjoy and Franklin, who source mainly from Pittards in the UK, usually being acknowledged with either WR100X technology or APL technology.

However, there is also a 'new kid on the block', being Surabaya-Noor Leather in Surabaya, Indonesia, that has recently popped up with a new gloving leather by the name of PWR (Perspiration and Water Resistant ????), which when I tested actually surpassed all the gloving leathers currently available, including that from Pittards. It has a quad-tannage system, so that it is protected in 4 different ways from detrimental effects of sweat and moisture. So if you're in the gloving business, then check them out!!!!!

The dry-soft attribute of gloving leather is also importantly. Whilst higher spec gloving leather is treated to resist getting wet/damp from sweat and moisture, ultimately it will, and if not processed correctly the fibres can stick together when the leather is dried out making it hard and stiff. You should be able to air dry the gloves (and note, never force dry with high temperatures!!!!) and the glove maintain its softness once dry.

Colourfastness, i.e. stopping the dye from bleeding or rubbing onto your pants, is also very important. Nowadays with good quality dyestuffs you have less issues, but again some inferior tanneries of China, India, Pakistan, Africa and some in Indonesia are using cheap, rubbish dyes, and these will consequently cause colourfastness issues.

So here's a start to this particular thread. And remember - in the gloving leather world, you definitely get what you pay for!!!!!!!

I'll write more next week. Cheers,

Dr Leather

Hot Feet.......

In recent years I have become acutely aware of how different shoes and boots seem to affect the temperature of my feet. Without doubt, leather is typically a very good fibre structure that can naturally breathe and transfer moisture in a way to keep your feet comfortable. But, I have noticed in recent times that many modern shoes seem to keep my feet incredibly hot, and I am currently researching this to see whether it is the materials used in the shoe construction, or some other aspect of the footwear manufacture, because quite simply I'm starting to find it uncomfortable. Are you guys seeing the same thing.

The leather can be enhanced to have a better moisture management and vapour transmission system through some treatments. But this is negated if non-breathable components are utilised in the shoe/boot, and then we have the issue of the glue possibly creating impermeable barriers as well.

As a background, suede and nubuck leathers are the best for breathability, so long as the fibre structure has not been 'stuffed' with other retan chemicals, which was common once to get a waterproof leather. A fully pigmented and heavily finished leather will have significantly reduced breathability in contrast due to the continuous polymer film applied to the leather surface.

So the question being posed this month is........ do you guys hate getting hot feet????

Look forwards to hearing from you. Rgds,

Dr Leather

Smelly boots!!!!!!!!

More and more these days I hear of very negative comments relating to athletic footwear and soccer boots that quickly get an issue with becoming very smelly. This is most likely caused by an issue relating to micro-organisms that have decided to set up home in your shoe or boot, and consequently a rather unsavory odour is generated. And smell is only one aspect of this..... foot health relating to possible infection with micro-organisms, bacteria, fungus, etc is also a possibility.

In my experience the synthetic shoes and boots tend to be far worse for this issue than leather footwear, primarily linked to the synthetics having significantly reduced breathability characteristics. Leather typically has a better fibre structure that can breathe and 'wick away' the moisture/sweat. But it is also strongly related to the other components in the footwear and how they handle moisture and potential microbial growth. And in honesty there is a great deal that can be done to alleviate these problems, but are often overlooked due to the additional cost.

So the question for today is just how much does smelly footwear annoy you guys, the consumers/users. Is it a 'nice to have' or a 'necessity' to have footwear that does not become smelly???

Looking forwards to your answers. Best wishes,

Dr Leather

For the punters - Soccer Boots

I've had the privilege to work with the top sporting brands for well over a decade now. In my current role at Packer Leather, we have supplied some of the most innovative soccer boot leathers in recent times, especially the dual control leathers for Nomis. Currently in existence there are a number of different skin or hide types used as a basis for the vamps in soccer boots, each with certain benefits. Obviously K-Leather (which is an alternative branding name for kangaroo) holds the premier position due to it being incredibly light weight and super strong. The bovine (cow hide) type leathers are generally 40 - 50% thicker to gain enough strength to be robust enough to be used in the boots, and there have also been attempts with goatskin, sharkskin and others. On these base leathers we can build in many technologies to enhance the players performance, and one of the greatest benefits of all that I see in the future is that leather is ultimately a renewable resource, which is extremely pertinent in this day and age of a world that is chewing through non-renewable resources at a staggering rate. Synthetic leathers on the other hand are very 'hungry' of oil based products in their manufacture, and also struggle to mimic many aspects from genuine leather.

So I'd like to start out a session reviewing what it is that the 'punters' out there like about synthetics, and try to understand what it is that you would like to see in a football boot leather.

Looking forwards to your comments. Regards,

Dr Leather

Well here we go..............

I've read countless blogs over the last few years, and decided that it's time to have a play myself.

So, I hear you asking, what the hell is Dr Leather. Well actually it was the name of a software company I co-owned a few years back, but I figured it was time to resuscitate it. I've worked in the technical leather industry for 18 years now, and was trained by the best at Pittards in the UK, where I became the Innovations Manager in the gloving leather division. You might know some of the leathers they sell, which are featured in numerous big brand products from people like Titleist-Footjoy, Franklin, Nike, etc, and include Armortan, Microspike, Firebloc, Parados, and many more........ so the next time you put on your Footjoy sta-sof golf glove, or your Franklin baseball batting glove then spare a thought that some technology is in there most likely developed by me.

In 2002 I left and became Technical Director at Packer Leather in Australia, making athletic footwear leathers (mainly soccer boot leathers) for Nomis, adidas, Umbro, Nike, Puma, Mizuno, Asics and many more using the wonderful skin structure of the kangaroo. Oh.......I hear a lot of you say. KANGAROO's !!!!!!!! Well yes it is the source of many emotive responses, but over the coming weeks I hope I can try to educate a little bit more on this topic before anyone jumps in with some uninformed information.

In my time in the leather industry, I've managed to write a number of patents regarding use of technology in leather, become a Fellow of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists and hold numerous tertiary leather qualifications. In fact I've just finished my MBA in Leather Management, and am awaiting my final mark any day now.

Somehow I'd like to try to develop this blog into two sections - one for true leather professionals and associated trade professionals, and the other section to try to bring easy explanation to the 'punters' out there.

So, I'll sign off for now, but will be back soon.

Cheers,

Dr Leather