The December 2025–January 2026 issue of World Leather is out now. It opens with a Leather Leaders interview with outgoing IULTCS president Dr Joan Carles Castell. He reflects on more than 50 years in the industry and calls for disruptive ideas that will deliver new business lines for tanners. Sustainability and innovation run through our Technology section, with articles on renewable lignocellulosic feedstocks in auxiliaries from TFL, leather’s place in European bio-based standards, advances in bio-based emulsifiers from Pulcra Chemicals and the automation of inspection and grading using AI and machine vision. In Leather and the Circular Economy, our features argue for a share for leather of the multi-million-euro public procurement projects that ought now to demand the use of circular materials. There are also calls for closer links with the agri-food sector. One of our Circular Story case studies connects heritage and performance: explorer Hugo Turner’s recent Himalayan ascent involved boots inspired by tho
