Consumer Attitudes Toward Leather in Shoes and Clothing

Excerpts from the report: The shoe industry has traditionally provided the major market for cattle hide leather. The use of man-made materials in the upper parts of shoes has already made inroads in this market and is expected to increase considerably within the next decade. A need has thus been created to ascertain consumer opinions of leather for shoe uppers to determine those characteristics of leather that consumers view unfavorably and would like to see improved. To meet this objective, respondents in this study were asked to name all the advantages and disadvantages they associated with shoe leather. Respondents were also asked to indicate from a list of 20 characteristics of shoe uppers (worded favorably and unfavorably) those that best described leather. In addition, they were presented a list of six potential improvements for leather in shoe uppers and were then asked the relative importance of each for their own shoes. Purpose of the survey was to provide guidance to the leather industry in developing desired improvements in product characteristics.