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The Leathersellers’ Foundation
Leathersellers’ Review 2024–2025
Our vision: “The Leathersellers will support a thriving, sustainable and connected leather industry offering opportunity to tanners, designers, makers and conservators.”
Leather
Natalia Rymaszewska Head of Grants
Total Leather Giving
£459,986
Total Giving £459,986
Foundation and Minor Trusts
£289,276 £170,710
Company
2024–2025 was a year of contrasts, marked by wider commercial challenges across the higher education landscape and the leather industry. Yet, it was also the first year of the refreshed Leather Strategy – a framework that brought clarity of purpose and renewed energy. The benefits of this strategic direction are evident in the exceptional expansion across several key areas.
Leather – a material for the past, present and future Leather is a sustainable and versatile material with applications across the fashion, automotive, furniture, aerospace, footwear, orthopaedics and equine industry, and more. As a by-product of the meat industry, leather transforms waste into a luxurious and durable material, preventing landfill and supporting circular economy principles. The UK-based tanning industry we support spans from high-tech producers such as Scottish Leather Group, with carbon net-zero operations at considerable scale, to artisanal tanneries using traditional, natural methods and often closely linked to regenerative farming and environmental initiatives across the country. Through members, alumni and funded partners we encourage connection to allow resources, skills and knowledge to be shared wherever possible. Our goals • T o ensure that leather is a material of opportunity in the UK, produced locally and globally, that can be used for a range of purposes by makers and designers. • T o help create a thriving and connected industry, utilising leather (including technical workers, producers, makers and designers).
PROGRESS TOWARDS THESE IN 2024–2025
Surplus Leather and Leather Education partners Set up to provide opportunities for students unaware of, or unfamiliar with, using leather, to experiment, develop skills in creating with leather, and explore the material properties of a range of leathers in different colours and finishes. Building on a two-year pilot with six university partners, we aimed to expand modestly. Instead, outreach efforts led to a surge in interest: • G rowth: From 6 to 18 education partners across the UK by early 2025. • N ew areas: Five of the new partners are engaging students from Furniture and Product Design courses rather than Fashion, with two spanning both disciplines. • D onors: Scottish Leather Group, C.F. Stead, Sedgwick & Co, Tusting, GH Leathers and Waltham Tannery.
Foundation and Minor Trusts £289,276
We thank these donors for their generous and ongoing support.
The tangible and immediate impact of these donations is evident in articles in this Review , featuring two of the new partners and how they grasped the opportunity to build leatherworking skills and incorporated industry knowledge.
Company £170,710
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