RSA Web News and Comment
Fenland Sheepskin Co.Ltd
We have been informed by Christopher Tinnion, MD of Fenland Sheepskin Co.Ltd, Bridgwater, Somerset, that the tannery has called in the receivers with effect Monday 28th March 2011.
This means that 70% of the UK's sheepskin tanning capacity and skills base have effectively been wiped out - leaving Devonia Products Ltd. at Buckfastleigh as the UK's last remaining commercial tannery.
Devonia process about 60,000 raw skins per annum - out of a UK annual kill of about 15 million woolskins. About 14 million sheepskins go to China for processing - sheepskin tanning or fellmongering.
One tannery in China, Heenan & Prosper, process in excess of 33,000 raw sheepskins per DAY.
In the wake of Fenland's closure, a number UK Sheepskin design, manufacturing and retail enterprises will no doubt be considering their future.
As secretariat of the Real Sheepskin Association, we have warned of this impending situation since the turn of the new millennium and before.
Despite our best efforts to raise investment and general interest, we have all of us been party to the collapse of a sustainable, environmentally friendly Industry of immense potential economic value to UK PLC.
We must hope that it is still not too late to re-form around the remnants of this 2,000 year old technology.
Sheep Graze Savile Row
The Real Sheepskin Association has been working on the steering committee of The Campaign for Wool since its launch by HRH The Prince of Wales on a cold Winter morning in January 2010.
Plans for the inaugural year of the Campaign, culminated in the first national Wool Week, 11th October 2010.
Working with Savile Row Bespoke Association, Woolmark International, West Country woolen mill, Fox Bros. and Dormeuil, the Campaign’s Wool Week got off to a sensational start when London’s Savile Row was grassed over, fenced and 80 sheep were let loose complete with collies, shepherds and a Vet.
Asked how the week went, the Real Sheepskin Association’s Secretary, Peter Robinson, who represents the UK Industry, said ‘it was a surreal and highly successful experience. Savile Row is recognized throughout the World as a centre of fine tailoring. This project put the UK Sheep and Wool Industries centre stage and has created a solid platform for the Campaign to build on in future years’.
HRH supports woolly thinking
For more information and news, visit: www.campaignforwool.org/news.php
'Excellent' Adelaide receives award from The Real Sheepskin Association
An ambitious furniture student has won an award from The Real Sheepskin Association for her creations using the natural material.
Adelaide Coombes, 23, used sheepskin to make eye-catching items including chairs, stools and screens. The talented student displayed the work at the end of year MA Furniture: Design & Technology show at Buckinghamshire New University in High Wycombe, where she has studied an MA in Furniture: Design for two years.
Adelaide’s final research project explored 'The Potential of Using Sheepskin and Wool in Furniture' and she said she had been looking to ‘challenge the common conception that the place of sheepskin was purely for upholstery’.
The Real Sheepskin Association, a voluntary group committed to providing quality sheepskin products and services, presented Adelaide with a £500 award and a certificate for the excellent standard of her work.
She said: "I hope I have achieved my aim and discovered new ways of using sheepskin in an innovative way. I would love to develop these products further because I see a place in the market for them as they are unusual and creative."
Adelaide, who has worked for Oxfordshire-based furniture company Isis Concepts Ltd, had also previously completed a degree in furniture design at Loughborough University in Leicestershire.
Peter Robinson, secretary of The Real Sheepskin Association, said: "Adelaide’s work is among the most outstanding we have come across in 20 years of sponsoring students’ work."
Adelaide, ably assisted by designer Ben Hinton, of Ryecotewood Furniture Centre at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College in Oxfordshire, looked at the use of wool and sheepskin in dozens of novel and practical interior applications. We were determined that her exceptional work had to be recognised and were delighted to have the chance to attend the Bucks New University MA end of year show in order to present Adelaide with her own special award.”
The Real Sheepskin Association is a member of the Prince of Wales’ Campaign for Wool, a plan to make wool fashionable again and to encourage people to choose British and Commonwealth wool over manmade alternatives.
What goes around comes around.
The Sheepskin Association is often asked why it has ‘Real’ in its title.
Visiting the magnificent Leathersellers’ Hall for a lunch recently as part of celebrations for the British School of Leather Technology 100 years old this year, provided a curious echo of the answer we too give to this frequently asked question.
The Real Sheepskin Association is only 20 years old but one of the main reasons the founding companies formed the Association was to defend ‘real’ sheepskin, using Trades Description legislation, from ‘wolf’ companies trying to pass off simulated fleece fabrics as the real thing.
Nothing against faux fur but no way is it comparable in quality, comfort or performance to products made from ‘real’ sheepskin.
Similarly at their formation round 1372, members of the ‘mistery’ or craft of
Leathersellers’ and Pursers complained to the mayor and aldermen about the
Dyers’ “deceit of the people” by dyeing sheep leather in order to pass it off
as the more durable and expensive roe deer leather.
By 1388 when Richard (Dick) Whittington was mayor, members applied for
regulations to prevent and punish dishonest practices. By 1444 the
Leathersellers were sufficiently organized and powerful to apply to Henry
VI for a charter of incorporation depicting both roe and ram as the
supporting “beasts” in their official crest – which explains another f.a.q.
- how a sheep and deer appear outside the official residence of the Leather
Livery!
Micro tanning sheepskin.
Micro Tanning on the
Isle of Skye
When wool prices are so low that the wool cheque from the Wool Board doesn’t even cover the costs of shearing the sheep, having the skins back to at least offset some the stock rearing costs, make good sense.
A number of farmers Breeders and smallholders are actively looking into the possibility of setting up a communal micro tannery covering the more remote regions far away from the 4 remaining sheepskin tanners.
There has been a noticeable increase in enquiries about the possibility of RSA assistance in this enterprise.
We believe around 10,000 skins per year are being contract dressed (tanned) and we estimate the potential mini-market could be as high as 1 million p.a.
The position to date is that the RSA offers some useful advice about the selection, preservation and logistics of getting skins tanned, see our ‘library’.
We have written a training workshop “How to make Best Use of Your Sheepskins” and are planning to install this online, for groups investigating how to process, make and market their skins.
We are consulting with the Sheepskin Tanning sector, Leather technology training institutions/consultants, EU, DEFRA and others on how we can best help.
To discuss further, in confidence, please contact Peter Robinson, Hon. Sec. Real Sheepskin Association info@realsheepskin.org.uk.