Asian Crafts

Leather :

The first leather product was manufactured in this world, when the primitive man covered himself with the skins of animals he killed. Leather is a natural commodity that is valued all across the globe. Leathercraft is one of the first manufactured materials, and is a very ancient profession. Products made from leather are always in demand and are quite expensive as well. This is an old and hereditary craft. Raw hides and skins of animals are tanned and converted into leather. A wide range of accessories are being manufactured from leather.

• Leather Bags,
• Furniture,
• Purses,
• Luggage,
• Briefcases,
• Tooled belts,
• Handbags,
• Puppetry,
• Wallets, and
• Address Books are a few to name.

 Leather has some major constraints. They were damp, putrefying, and lost their flexibility and softness upon drying. Tanning helps to overcome these issues. It stops putrefying, and keeps the leather soft and flexible after drying.

 Accessories:

 Over the years, leather accessories have grown to be an indispensible part of ones everyday life. Initially it was used only for clothing purposes. During the lapse of time, it was being used for making many other things creatively. Leather accessories available today are a gamut of products like; leather skirts, coats, riding jackets, pants, handbags, vests, shorts, tank tops halter and many more. It is being preferred in many accessories due to its sturdy and versatile features. Beautifully crafted leather handbags and purses for women are available in a wide assortment of colors and prices to suit every ones choice. Portfolios and bags serve as a persons best office and travel partner. A few other desktop items like pen holder, frames, book covers, card holder, laptop bags, and passport holders etc have gained utmost importance in corporate offices. Leather bags are the first choice of companies who prefer to gift their clients and employees. The main application of leather is in the footwear industry.

 Leather Puppetry:

 Puppetry is a traditional form of entertainment, which is being practiced; time immemorial. Puppeteers use different materials including leather dolls to demonstrate this folk art. Usually deer skin and goat hide are used, as they can be easily colored, and lasts for centuries. Hides of donkeys, buffalos, and camels are also used. Leather puppets are much in demand in the western countries.

Turkey's footwear industry has developed at a rapid pace due to modern manufacturing processes, the availability of major quality raw materials, skilled workers and high design capacity. Today the Turkish footwear industry has a strong position among exporters of high quality fashion goods. Another sign of positive development is the increase in foreign investments in the sector.




It is obvious that the footwear industry is extremely dependent on the leather industry in the country. The Turkish leather sector, which has a history of 500 years, is becoming a leading centre in the leather world. The Turkish leather industry which occupies a prominent place in the Turkish economy has been developing rapidly by combining its technology and its historical background.




Initial efforts to modernize the leather industry began in the 70s but significant progress on a real industrial scale only began in the mid 80s. The sector has developed very quickly in recent years. At present, there are three organised leather industry zones in Turkey and wastewater treatment plants for these zones have been completed. In addition, eight organised leather industry zones are under construction. The sector produces according to international standards and is becoming more sensitive to health and the environment; about 90 % of the production is based on health and environmental standards.


Leather of Turkey:

Leather is one of Turkey's leading export sectors. The export figure of the leather sector for 2007 was about 846 million dollars.

Production

The shoe industry, which began to appear as a smallsize industry in 1950, is now a welldeveloped industry. Especially in the 1980s significant investments in machinery parks were made and now over 15 % of the sector has completed its industrialization process. About 70 % of the production in the sector is carried out by semimechanized production processes and almost 15 % of production is handmade.

According to State Institute of Statistics, the footwear industry employs 26,954 people and the industry has about 4753 companies which are manufacturing various shoes and slippers. Almost 50 % of the total number of companies is active in İstanbul. Konya, Ankara, Gaziantep, Manisa and Denizli, Adana, Malatya and orum (İskilip) are the other important shoe production centers.

The production capacity of the 33 leading companies in the sector is 328,100 pairs daily. In addition, there are many small and medium size establishments in the sector.


Turkeys shoe production reached 200 million pairs in 2004. Almost 26 % of the production consists of leather shoes. In addition, there has been a rapid increase in the manufacture of plastic shoes and slippers. The footwear sector relies on Turkish made shoe production machinery as well as shoe parts. The share of the shoe parts industry in the total shoe industry production is around 5 % and production is very diversified. The soles, heels, casting molds and the welt of the shoes are exported. The shoe parts industry is located in İzmir and the Aegean region, Konya, Gaziantep and in particular İstanbul.

The military boots, work and safety shoes industries in Turkey have developed significantly in recent years. These sectors are producing according to international standards, and shoes with the CE mark are exported to European countries.

The footwear sector closely follows the latest trends in the fashion world. Turkish shoe companies prepare their own collections for every season according to fashion trends both in Turkey and in the world.

The industry is now concentrating its efforts on training and design. In this context, with the initiative of shoe industry, the Turkish Shoe Industry Research, Development and Education Foundation was established in 2001. In order to meet the need of qualified personel in shoe design, a new department of education, "The Shoe Design Department" has been opened at Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul, which offers twoyear courses. In addition to these, every year various shoe design competitions are being organized in order to discover new talents in the field of design.


Asian Crafts from Bangladesh offers Finished leather :
For wholesale order, Price quote, Please Contact:088-01190234176, or email: shameem.sarwar@gmail.com

With a capacity of over 100000 sq.ft. of leather per month,
Asian Crafts Provides you with a leather quality that confirms to the International Standards of being PCP and azo-free.
Leather types that we export are goat, sheep, buffalo & cow.

Offering you the following finishes:
Cow vegetables – Leather produced using nature, friendly technology of vegetable extracts instead of chrome powder. Similar to the Italian Leathers this may be milled cow veg or plain cow veg in look.
Cow Nappa – Nappa means soft, leather is soft and smooth to touch.
Cow Glazed – Glazed is based on protein finish to give the leather a natural look.
Cow oil pull up – A Semi Chrome leather with a natural break and smooth touch.
Cow DD
Cow DD / DM
Cow Antique

Many of these finishes are possible in goat, sheep, buffalo or cow leather.

Ask for any color shade and it will be yours! Besides, our experience shows that colors generally preferred are black, brown, cognac, burgandy.
Please note that there might be a slight color variation.
It’s mainly due to the variation in the size of hides, leading to unequal absorption of color chemicals.

Asian Crafts from Bangladesh offers handicrafts
For wholesale order, Price quote, Please Contact:088-01190234176, or email: shameem.sarwar@gmail.com

Our wholesale handicraft productions and handicraft supplier of Asian Crafts handicrafts service is dedicated to providing both the widest range of wholesale giftware, wooden handicrafts, terracotta handicrafts, bamboo handicrafts, leather products and quality personalized services for buying handicraft designed to produce excellent profits when resold. We welcome the challenge of creating or finding new handicrafts to meet the needs of an evolving markets and can gather comprehensive new handicraft options to meet your needs.

As we are both licenced handicraft exporter and Asian Crafts handicraft wholesale supplier you can expect to make a profit by reselling our products, buying Asian Crafts handicrafts at unbeatable prices. We can efficiently ocean freight either LCL (less then container) or FCL (full container) wholesale handicraft orders cost effectively to almost any worldwide location.

Our handicrafts buying managers and handicraft quality control staff see that wooden handicrafts terracotta handicrafts, bamboo handicrafts, leather products and Bali handicrafts are inspected for uniformity, moister content and other strict quality control criteria. Our experienced packing and warehouse staff see that all handicraft orders are well packed for safe shipping and maximum use of shipping space.


Exports


Today the Turkish footwear sector has the capacity of creating its own brands and fashion. The performance of the sector largely depends on exports. The Turkish shoe sector had an export value of 316.6 millions of dollars in the year 2007. At present, the Russian Federation, Romania, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, England, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Iraq, and Israel are major markets for the Turkish shoe sector.

Shoes made with leather coated outer surface make up 53 % of shoe exports and had a value of 167 million dollars in 2007. Russia is currently the most important market of Turkish leather shoes. The second important group consists of rubber or plastic materials coated outer soles and surface with an export value of 58 million dollars in 2007.

Turkish shoe industry has one sectoral foreign trade company named ASD Footwear. ASD with 57 shareholders who are small and medium size manufactures operating in footwear industry is the largest shoe exporter of Turkey.

ASD Footwear Company plans to open shoe retail stores all around the world. Under this concept, the company opened two fashion stores in the Czech Republic/Prague and Poland. Now it is planning to open new retail stores in other countries.

All these indicate that Turkish shoe manufacturing companies are in search of new markets and especially export possibilities to the West European countries.

The Turkish footwear sector takes part in important international fairs and exhibitions abroad. GSD Shoe FairDsseldorf/ Germany, Motexha Spring FairDubai/ U.A.E., Mosshoes Moscow/Russia and LineapellaItaly are the most attended ones.

As an important footwear producer/exporter country, many fairs are held in Turkey in the sector every year. Major fairs in the Turkish footwear industry in 2008 are as follows:

GAPShoes, 6th Footwear, Saddlery and Footwear Industry Suppliers Fair, GAZiANTEP in 24.01.200827.01.2008

23. İzmir Shoes, Bags and Accessories Fair, İZMİR in 24.01.200827.01.2008

15. Shoes Fashion Fair, ANKARA in 07.02.200810.02.2008

Konya 21. Shoes, Side Industry and Fashion Fair ( summer), KONYA in 28.02.200802.03.2008

International Shoe Fashion Fair, İSTANBUL in 17.04.200820.04.2008

24. İzmir Shoes, Bags and Accessories Fair, İZMİR in 03.07.200806.07.2008

16. Shoe Fashion Fair, ANKARA in 10.07.200813.07.2008

Konya 21. Shoe, Side Industry and Fashion Fair ( winter ), KONYA in 28.02.200802.03.2008

İstanbul Shoe Side Industry Fair II, İSTANBUL in 18.09.200820.09.2008

İstanbul Shoe Fair II, İSTANBUL in 20.11.200822.11.2008

Source:: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article