Cengiz Sinallar is a Turkish retanner of wet-blue and crust leather for shoe uppers and leather accessories, sourced exclusively in third world countries. He pays cash to suppliers on a monthly basis, and believes that Türkiye has many advantages.
‘I have 250 different types of leather. Multiply this by a range of colours and it makes a choice of thousands’, he says. China does not yet offer such variety in leathers. China’s tanners pay something close to 20% too much (often in cash) for hides and skins, while local labour costs are rising. Sinallar believes that investing heavily in leather supplies, regardless of price, has dented China’s competitive advantage: ‘China is buying my rejects at much higher prices.’ Using the first quality leather that Sinallar provides to local footwear exporters, the fob price gap between Turkish and Chinese shoes is about $3-4. This is far less than the $2 vs $25 difference cited by most Turkish shoe producers.
Sinallar believes that China has advantages in the mass production of shoes but not in leather upper production. Even with Türkiye’s advantages, Sinallar believes that India, not China, will prove a more brutal competitor for all types of leathers. This country has low overheads and labour costs, a well-organised and educated tannery sector and leather production in this country is highly professional.
