THE LAST ROUNDUP
Texas and leather processing should fit like a well-worn saddle. The time is right and Texas is the place. Texas needs tanneries.
Written by Dennis Shelly, Ph.D.
Texas, especially rural Texas, needs leather tanneries as a value-added economic development tool. Texas Tech’s Leather Research Institute is spearheading efforts to pinpoint obstacles and, in turn, identify ways to facilitate bringing this much-needed business to the state. Texas and leather processing would seem to fit like a comfortable pair of boots; unfortunately, some of the obstacles seem as insurmountable as a high barbed-wire fence.
From small farms to huge ranches, Texas has an abundance of hides, the raw material for making leather. What it doesn’t have much of is leather processing. Rural Texas also doesn’t have much industry. It seems, then, like an obvious solution: bring tanning and leather manufacturing to rural Texas and create the potential for all sorts of leather goods businesses. From saddles, to boots to wallets, purses, shoes and slippers, all could be made here in Texas, bringing employment, wealth and strength to rural communities. Besides, this would be value-added processing, a stated, prized objective for state and local government officials all over Texas.
Just because it is obvious, doesn’t mean it is easy. The truth is that leather manufacturing is costly and time consuming. The process, with all of its nuances, is difficult to learn, and international competition is intense. In fact, insiders in the leather manufacturing industry know it as an industry of the developing world. It’s not surprising, then, to understand why China has devoted 5 percent of its domestic economy to leather. China is very hungry and it has millions of people capable of working for pennies per hour. Regrettably, the leather industry is just one of several industries that chase cheap labor around the globe. We can expect then, that tannery and leather factory closures are increasing in the United States. Ten such closures occurred in 2001. At this rate, this country will not be able to make its own high-performance leathers for our critical domestic, military and transportation systems. Without conversion to leather, our domestic hide supply will increase, and we will not be able to add value to this important agricultural commodity.
Leather processors are easily understood as the world’s first recyclers. It probably didn’t take long for early man to realize that rotting hides were far worse than the often messy and time-consuming steps of converting them to leather to make clothing and household items.
But animal agriculture marches on in the United States, even so, now in the 21st century. Just as sure as tomorrow’s sunrise, there will be hides to process and leather to be made.
Even as the global obstacles appear to impede the progress of developing this industry in the Lone Star State, the potential to have this value-added processing here in Texas, in fact, is dramatically improving. How is that possible when the leather industry is in serious decline? Actually, only bovine leather manufacturing is in trouble, mostly because these hides can be converted to semiprocessed leather, called wet blue, which has become an international commodity. However, specialty leather processing is a completely different story.
The demand for non-bovine hide processing actually is increasing, especially for ostrich, American bison and American alligator. These species are niche agriculture businesses that are on the rise. With 20 to 40 percent of the animal value in the hide, conversion of those hides into leather is an important service for the producer that only a tanner can fulfill. Leather processors want to relocate to Texas to take advantage of this opportunity. Texas Tech’s Leather Research Institute has found two companies with the courage and vision to embark on new ventures in Texas. But they cannot afford to fund their relocations themselves. After four years of painstakingly researching the industry, these clients are very rare. Finding other companies to circle up is not a viable option. In pursuing official, established channels of funding, support has not materialized either, so finding some investment capital would be, could be and should be an option. However, with an economy in recession, not much chance exists of finding that capital. Even traditional bank loans are not a real alternative. Very few banks will support an application of this type, even when it is guaranteed by the Texas Department of Agriculture.
So what’s left? Grants and a public/private partnership are about the only choices at this point. These look like, perhaps, the last viable options to achieve economic development in Texas through leather processing. Texas and leather processing should fit like a well-worn saddle. The time is right and Texas is the place. Texas needs tanneries.
Dennis Shelly, Ph.D., is the director of Texas Tech’s Leather Research Institute and an associate professor of chemistry.
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