Most of the leather used in the manufacture of safety footwear falls into two categories, bovine hides which are a by-product of beef production and Buffalo hides which are sourced mainly from the Punjab area of North India. Both are robust enough to withstand the rigours of the challenging environments in which our customers wear V12 boots.

As with many raw materials, high demand, fuelled in particular by the development of Asian economies, has lead to significant increases for both types of hides. Indeed in 2013 average hide prices increased by more than 22%.

Hide can represent 20-25% of the total materials cost of the final product. The challenge therefore for V12 and our competitors is to manage these increases in the cost of raw materials without compromising the quality of our boots.

From the design through to the finished product our leather selection is always a major factor. And so, despite these substantial increases in hide prices we continue to make the selection, design, and use of the leather as cost effective as possible, thereby absorbing a major part of these increases where we can.