About Us

The leather industrial cluster of Tamil Nadu makes goods mainly for the export market. This has been possible due to a large number of skilled workers with the ability to produce high quality goods, availability of raw material and easy access to the port. The distribution channel is small since most of the tanneries directly supply material to the leather product manufacturing units. For the small requirements of several units, intermediary traders exist.

The major centers of organized leather product units are Chennai (in and around city)/Ranipet/ Visharam /Vellore/Ambur/Vaniyambadi/Pernambut/Gudiyattam etc. The unorganized micro units are spread across Chennai, Salem, Erode etc.

Historically, tanning industry has been found to be concentrated in the state of Tamil Nadu, spread over in Madras and its surrounding cities of Ranipet, Ambur, Pernambur, Vaniyambadi, Erode, Tiruchirapalli and Dindigul. The industry reportedly 200 years old, expanded due the presence of British traders in large numbers in Madras Presidency.

Riding on the strength of Chennai cluster’s specialised leathers in goat, sheep and cow leather, product units get the bulk of export orders for making shoes, shoe uppers, leather goods and leather garments.

Structure

·          Chennai (Guindy, Porur, Pallavaram, Chromepet, Guduvanchery): Majority of shoe/shoe upper units/leather garment/leather goods units. Specialised in mesh–hand woven shoe/shoe uppers.

·          Ranipet /Visharam/Vellore/Ambur/Pernambut: Mainly shoe / shoe upper units with little concentration in leather goods units.

·          Vaniyambadi: Mainly leather garment/leather gloves units.

·          Erode/Salem: Micro units producing sandals/chappals.

The main raw material for product industry is finished leather and leather lining which are sourced from the cluster itself. Very few buyers opt for imported European finished leather. The rest of the major accessories are sourced from the domestic market in the case of upper making. Shoes accessories like soles/insoles/ornaments are imported from China, Hong Kong, Italy, Spain, UK, USA etc, according to the customer’s requirements.

Shoe components are available in the domestic market as well and are now internationally recognized for the quality standards but there is no design development process in a big way as European suppliers have.

Some European companies have joined hands with Indian counterparts to offer good components and accessories to the product industry.

The latest trends, designs and materials are brought in by buyers and international fashion magazines and fashion houses in Italy, France, Belgium, UK and Spain. Dissemination of this information is through local industry magazines and local institutes that offer design and development courses.

The standard testing for physical / chemical properties of the components like soles / insoles / chemicals / laces / ornaments / elastic / Velcro etc., are done in CLRI according to SATRA – UK standards and in FDDI with PFI –Germany standards. SGS certification is also sought for by buyers of North America and Far East.  

Challenges

The Indian leather products’ supporting component industry has not grown the way the tanneries have grown. Hence the thrust area is the development of footwear components for overall growth of the leather product sector.

Design intelligence is a key area for intervention under Project Vikas project using ICT as a tool and to bring the latest fashions to designers.

There are at least 200-250 sub contract units for sewing /assembling of components in shoes / garments / goods in Chennai’s leather cluster. One of the major issues for these units is the loss of work during off-season. Exporters are not able to provide the solution for this issue. So the units themselves are trying to work in the domestic market as well for continuity. Now with the labour cost escalating in the city areas, these job work units face attrition issues. Hence the continuity of work is important to sustain this sector.

Project Vikas Initiatives

Project Vikas has planned a number of initiatives to tackle these challenges. Under the project, sensitization programs are being conducted to help enterprises understand how the challenges before them can be well addressed through use of ICTs.

 Project Vikas is also in the process of setting up an e-Readiness Centre in the cluster. Training programs for the local independent software vendors are being conducted. Workshops for the CxOs and Directors of enterprises on ICT training are also being conducted. Workforce training programs are also planned.

To enable business development of the enterprises, Project Vikas has envisaged a Web portal which would enable these businesses to connect with other business, and help them find customers as well.