In order to create the finest quality leather, we source the finest quality hides. From field to finish, we pride ourselves in holding the knowledge of the exact age and provenance of every piece of leather, thanks to their unique tracking numbers.
The hides arrive at the lime yard in our Chesterfield tannery. They are stripped, cleaned and plumped for hydration. This is when our craftsmen stamp the batch with their unique tracking number to confirm their provenance and assist the quality control process.
The leather then arrives at the tan yard, where the traditional tanning takes place. The leather is lowered into pits filled with all natural tanning agents, such as vegetable tan, and left to work. This stage ensures the longevity of the leather by gently and naturally preserving it.
The process then moves on to the drum shop where they are placed in large traditional drums filled with leather dye and oils. This is how the leather obtains its essential colour and softness.
This stage takes place at either our tannery in Chesterfield or our dedicated finishing shop in Walsall. It entails various steps, which are all carefully completed mostly by hand, including oiling, staining and pebbling.
Arriving from the finishing shop, the leather is hung in a temperature-controlled room. We ensure that the room is supplied with constant airflow and that no direct heat is applied to the leather. The leather remains in this room until it has reached a moisture content level of 25%.
The leather is now complete and ready to leave our site after intensive quality control measures. It is sorted and stored in our finished goods store ready to become a high quality leather product.
This year the ‘Design a Bag Online’ competition run by APLF and Fashion Access gave the prospective winner the opportunity to spend a month in Milan with top designers and leathercraft workers. This opportunity doesn’t come around often and the winner would have come up against some very tough competition indeed.
Throughout 2017, leather designers around the world worked on their projects allowing their imagination to run wild as they longed to catch the eyes of the judges. APLF states on their website that the panel of judges would assess certain criteria, looking out for unique designs, innovative yet trendy methods of application, creative use of materials and product functionality that can be marketable.
During the second day of APLF a young and enthusiastic designer from Singapore, founder of Myura Leather, Ho Kuan Teck visited the Clayton Leather Group’s stand. Ho is a familiar face to the Clayton sales team and explained that he had made it to the finals of the Design a Bag Online competition. That very same evening he was to present his ‘Lemniscate’ bag design to the judges. Feeling very inspired by the idea that he was merely hours away from potentially winning, the Clayton team wished him luck and asked for him to return with some good news the next day.
On the final day of the show Ho returned with an infectious beaming smile and the winner’s certificate in hand. Proudly talking of his designs, “The design of this handbag is an amalgamation of a triangle and an infinity symbol, taking into consideration the compatibility between people and shapes, as well as the compatibility between shapes and environments. More importantly, the design seeks to reflect someone’s modern and luxurious lifestyle in a simple and direct manner of “Balance”. When there is harmony, eternity ensues. And this “eternity” is represented by the handle which is a core part of any handbag. The shape of the handle also epitomizes the modern era of a minimalist.
There are no fanciful accessories to a handbag. The main material is leather which is an indicator of elegance and harmony.”
Ho has expressed his desire to promote hand finished British leathers and would use Clayton’s leather in his future projects.
Thanks to Iain Mcfadyen from Scottish Leather Group the Crockett & Jones leather shoes are placed proudly in the National Leather Collection representing true Britishness.
After Iain won the shoes from our randomly selected winner at the annual Leather Sellers Industry dinner, he decided to donate them to the Northampton based visitor attraction set up for educating anyone who wants a #leatherinsight
This donation is the second in the shoe’s history as they were originally donated by a Mr William Wilson Director of Leather Com. Now on display, we hope they will continue to create interest in our industry. The Clayton Leather Group were proud to have raised over £2000 for The Leather & Hide Trades Benevolent Institution.
As we round off this story now it does seem fitting to tell you that coincidentally we found out last week that Iain Mcfadyen’s middle name is Fleming! Who’d have guessed it!
Thank you for your generous donations and reshares on Facebook during our fundraising campaign. The online donations were all added to the donations taken at the evening’s event – totalling just over £2000 for The Leather And Hide Trades Benevolent Institution.
All names from the online funding page and on all the donators on the night were placed into the draw where The Master Antony Barrow drew a winner…
The proud new owner of a signed Daniel Craig pair of leather Crockett & Jones Alex Black shoes was……..Iain Mcfadyen from Scottish Leather Group.
Shown here receiving the shoes by our very own Ian T. Walker, Chairman of the Clayton Leather Group.
During the two days of promoting the funding page, we had a considerable push for donations via blogs and posts from James Bond Lifestyle. Followed up by Make it British during their Facebook Live session – we’d like to say a big thank you for your support.
Today the Clayton Leather Group announced that General Manager of J &E Sedgwick’s & Co, Walsall and Group Sales Manager, Philip Bevington, has joined the board of J&E Sedgwick & Co Ltd.
Philip joined the Company as Group Sales Manager in February 2016 having previously held management roles in the Fashion and Food export industries. In September 2016 he added the role General Manager of J&E Sedgwick following the retirement of Managing Director Richard Farrow.
This appointment continues to demonstrate the commitment of the company to grow its business across Europe and the rest of the world by enhancing the Management structure at the Clayton Leather Group.
At the end of August, the All China Leather Exhibition took front of stage in Shanghai as it opened its doors to the world of leather at the New Exhibition Centre. The show had around 23,000 excited visitors across the three days seeking out suppliers who can help their company grow in the leather industry. The Clayton Leather Group exhibited their leather in Shanghai by supporting the group’s sole distributor to the Chinese market Brothers Leathercraft, who was officially named as the group distributor this year and exhibited at the show for the first time.
Located in the first hall J & E Sedgwick’s Traditional Bridle leather, Clayton and Sons’ shell cordovan and horse front were proudly on display generating continued activity around the stand. Small leather goods manufactured from the bridle leather were on display enabling visitors to see the various leathers as a finished product. The 152-year-old walrus leather exhibit, which has travelled with the group across the globe on various exhibitions, was a definite eye catcher throughout the show.
Where many exhibitors had mixed feelings on whether the show had been successful or not, the Clayton Leather Group’s distributors stand had a constant flow of visitors. Many visitors wanting to know more about the versatility of English traditional bridle leather and how this leather could suit their requirements. The time and care taken to produce every hand finished piece of leather by the group is something that the Far East market appreciates, clearly shown by the number of visitors to the stand.
Many companies use the show as an opportunity to talk to current customers to further build relationships. In the case of Brothers Leathercraft more than half of their customers come from their e-commerce site so this was the first time the company could meet their customers face to face. The chance to discuss orders with current customers on this scale is rare for Brothers Leathercraft, giving them real value to exhibiting in Shanghai this year.
A month has passed now since the show ended and the dust has finally settled for this year’s ACLE. Next destination for the Clayton Leather Group is Hong Kong in March 2018 for the All Pacific Leather Fair.
The ‘All China Leather Exhibition’ is fast approaching and this will be the second trade show in China that the group will have exhibited at this year. The Clayton Leather Group’s range of products will be exhibited on the Brothers Leathercraft stand, who signed an official distribution agreement during the APLF show in Hong Kong.
Clayton & Sons have extended the range of colours in horse front leather and will be our main feature over the three days. The leather is manufactured at the group’s tannery in Chesterfield, England, and offers a fantastic vintage finish which is perfect for jackets and small leather bags.
The Clayton leather Group started producing horse front leather in black and brown some 8 years ago. However, this year is the first time the finishing team have created colours that stray away from the still very classic shades. Our colour palette for horse front now consists of Black, Brown, Red, Blue, Natural, Green, Burgundy, and Conker.
The range will be displayed on stand number E1/C12a during ACLE.
Follow the group on social media platforms during the show for the latest updates.