Just to start on the lighter side of things for the weekend, I recommend a visit to www.xtranormal.com to make some fun movies. Very easy to use and publish!!!!!
It's interesting that still the simple things in life are great...... even if that means in this day and age that someone else has done all the hard work behind the scenes.
I'm off to Europe for a few weeks now to organise 12 new innovations for Nomis. But I was yet again amazed today to read some new patents, allied with the footwear and leather industry, that have just been passed which to me are truly a representation of what rubbish you can get away with. There is still the two criteria for patents, well there are in my book, in that a patent should be awarded to a novel solution to a problem or issue, and that it is 'non-obvious'. This last aspect is commonly forgotten, and the one that can be argued upon best of all. What may be obvious to me may not be obvious to someone else, but surely there has to be some sense of reality in that!!!!!! Then there is the whole saga of 'first to invent' and 'first to file' aspects which have differing priorities in different countries. No wonder legal lawyers are so rich these days!!!!!
Regards,
Dr Leather
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
How Marketing Can Be Just A Little Misleading
It was with interest this week that I spent some time on reviewing just how certain companies are now marketing leather in ways that obviously suggest they are related to one thing, but are actually something completely different.
One example was the ULT-K leather being marketed by adidas. Now one might think that this is a kangaroo leather from the simple 'K' letter being involved and the 'ULT' maybe suggesting to the consumer that it is a superior version of the normal K-Leather. So imagine my shock to learn that actually the ULT-K appears to refer to a calf leather instead of the revered kangaroo leather!!!!!! This was after a number of searches on various retail stores online, just in case some error had been made in this instance. What would you think it meant out of interest?????
The same goes for the KNG-100, which is actually a synthetic leather offering by Nike in some of their football boot models.
In my opinion, marketing should not be about 'tricking' the consumer to any degree, instead it should be about providing good, genuine information for the consumer to make a considered choice. That tactic may have worked in the past, but the consumer is far more savvy today, with the internet allowing access to a greater volume of data. But this doesn't just happen in the leather industry..... oh no!!!! There have been a number of others cited from the Cosmetics idustry and Drugs companies through to Food manufacturers.
Just who do you believe these days!!!!!!!
Rgds,
Dr Leather
Monday, May 18, 2009
Missing in Action in the Nomis Sports Laboratory......
Well it's been an incredibly long time since I last posted anything I am ashamed to say, but trust me it's all been go, go, go!!!!!!
So we've developed a lot of cool stuff in the R&D labs over the last few months, and in March I was asked to become the MD of Nomis Australia!!! This is such an opportunity that I could not refuse, and despite long hours has already allowed me to comment on many of the new ideas of the business. So have a look at our website being www.nomisfootball.com or www.shopnomis.com
The long term goal for Nomis has been to focus on the 'grass roots' player for football (soccer), rugby, AFL, hockey and other sports codes. And we have now looked at this still further and decided to push it so that we cut out the middle man and simply interact with the consumer on a direct basis only. That way cost savings can be pushed along the supply chain WITHOUT cheapening our product in any way or cutting corners with regards to materials used or production techniques employed. This will be reinforced with our Mobile Wear Test Centres, also known as Vanguards, whereby we will have customised Mercedes Sprinter vehicles circulating in many cities offering a free wear trial service. Here's a link to let you see what we are doing:
From a technology point of view it was great to finally see the NxGen technology be implemented into a limited run of Nomis boots. Whilst not everybody likes the design, the technology really is the clever bit, and allows custom images to be applied to leather as seen in the picture above.
The other thing we have done is to create some 'Hot Pink' boots for a charity event to be played in the next few weeks. It is to raise awareness for Breast Cancer Research, and last week the boots were presented to the player in question, Jarrod Sammut from the Penrith Panthers, with several photographers and TV cameras there for the event. Here is a link for the first bit of footage we found http://bigpondvideo.com/NRL_Panthers/126477
Well that's all for now. Back soon,
Dr Leather
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
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
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
Friday, July 4, 2008
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
