Diversification Of Shoes Is Not Only A Decline In Prices But Also A Continued Downturn In The Market.

Are leather shoes no longer popular? In the past, when consumers bought shoes, they chose genuine leather shoes as their first choice. Nowadays, when people are buying shoes, they have more "vegetarian" preferences, canvas and ultra-fine shoes.

Plastic materials, which are non animal products, have become new favorites.

At the same time, the quality of artificial leather has been continuously improved under the help of technological upgrading, and it has completely reached the level of false truth.

Scott Starbuck Starbuck, founder of Chicago shoe retailer City Soles, has witnessed a shift in consumer preferences.

He said in an interview that people are increasingly buying other (non animal) shoes, which is not much related to whether they are vegetarians.

Casual dress and environmental awareness

Leather shoes, once a symbol of status and a necessity for formal occasions, are now in a difficult position.

One of the reasons for this situation is the increasing popularity of casual wear and sports shoes in all clothing occasions. Another reason is that more consumers are trying to avoid buying animal products (such as cowhide goods and fur).

Consumers are uneasy about killing large numbers of livestock, and they are also worried about the environmental pollution caused by large-scale livestock raising.

Jocelyn Thornton Thornton, senior vice president of creative services at Doneger Group, a fashion consultancy, said young consumers are more inclined to casual clothes. They are more interested in shoe companies with some non leather materials. They are very concerned about the production story behind each product.

For example, Adidas, Germany's sports giant, recently launched one million pairs of sports shoes made of recycled plastic.

Jocelyn Thornton says that these young people do not necessarily choose the products of synthetic materials. Their aim is to buy products that are good for the environment.

For leather factories, this trend is really bad news, because shoemaking companies are their biggest customers, and their demand accounts for up to 55%.

To make matters worse, the global demand for American beef is almost at an all-time high.

Demand is slowing down again, resulting in a lot of cattle hide in slaughterhouses.

The history of large-scale application of cattle by-products to produce all kinds of products has been a long history. Leather can be made from cow hide, sausages can be made by cow sausage, and soap made from cow fat.

Today, the most valuable part of the body is the beef and steak, and the rest are bones, blood and fat, which are used to make fertilizer, gelatin, medicine and textiles.

According to data from the US government, the by-product of cowhide and other cattle accounts for about 44% of the weight of a slaughtered cow, but its value is less than 10%.

According to market research firm Research and Markets data, cowhide is the main material of the global leather market, and leather products in 2016.

The value is 932 billion.

The following is the proportion of cowhide demand in various commodity categories as follows:

Shoes accounted for more than 50%.

Automotive interior 20%

Home class 12%;

Handbags 13%

A cowhide can make 11 pairs of cowboy boots or 20 soccer balls and 1 car safety seats.

But in recent years, there has been a serious imbalance between supply and demand in the supply chain.

Cheaper alternative materials

According to the data provided by The MaxField Report, President of Ken Ken Maxfield, in the US cattle breeding industry, in 2014, after the large-scale drought disaster in the United States, the ranchers in the country reduced the number of cattle raised to the lowest level in 60 years, and the supply of cowhide decreased sharply.

This has led to a sharp rise in the price of leather, and many shoe manufacturers have been forced to reduce the amount of leather they use.

A few years later, the demand for Buffalo has yet to rebound.

Stephen Sothmann Sothmann, President of U.S. Hide Skin & Leather Association, said the industry is now struggling to recover.

According to data released by the US Department of agriculture in recent months, the price of cowhide has now reached its lowest level since 2009, down 24% from the previous year, and nearly half of the price point in 2014.

But according to recent data released by cowhide supplier Harland M. Braun & Co., the cowhide market has not bottomed out.

According to data from Hamburg research firm Statista, the category of leather shoes this year will still contribute to the largest part of us shoe sales of US $83 billion 700 million.

In 2016, sales of casual shoes increased by 14.3% compared to the same period last year, and sales of leather shoes fell by 12% compared with the same period last year.

This trend is expected to continue this year.

According to the data provided by Maxfield, the amount of leather used in fashion products is also decreasing. Synthetic leather and ankle boots have replaced high tube leather boots, and small handbags have replaced large leather goods.

According to Don Ohsman, publisher of research firm Hidenet, it is true that leather industry's demand for top high-end cowhide is still growing, but the perfect soft calf that can make high-end luxury handbags and shoes is in short supply.

Car manufacturers sell more cars, but the amount of leather used in interior trim is reduced.

Some consumers prefer the "pure" car, according to the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (Tesla) CEO Elon Mask 6 on 5 may at the annual meeting of the company, the new sports SUV Model Y did not use any leather interior.

In addition, according to PayPal Schulman Dan, CEO of the Internet payment platform, at the recent meeting, in the next ten years, with the development of e-commerce, more mobile digital payment methods will replace the traditional cowhide wallet.

He said this wallet would become a "past tense".