“We need to share the honest truth. The leather industry has the best scientists in the world, but the message is not reaching ordinary people”, said Katie Kutskill, Business Operations & Strategy at Is It Leather?, a platform established in 2021 with the goal of advocating for leather and spreading correct information about the material. The Tannery partnered with the project at Lineapelle 104 for the Meet & Greet event. We had a chance to meet with Kutskill herself (pictured left) from the Is It Leather?
Team, and Kyle Gross, Director of Organic Social Media, digital communicator and well-known face on social media. “We want to explain leather to people who don’t know about it, putting ourselves in the perspective of those who don’t have information like I did”, explains Gross (right) who admits to being a leather outsider. “Leather was not on my radar. I didn’t know much about it before. Then I realized that leather is everywhere in everyday life”.
A bridge of knowledge
“There is profound misinformation about leather”, says Katie Kutskill. “So my mission is to act as a bridge, sharing my knowledge of the leather industry to people, so they can understand it from both a cultural and scientific perspective. Katie has a background in automotive, where she was able to learn about leather and its importance. Her knowledge has since turned into a passion. “I think people want to know if they are buying something that has value, and you will always find quality with real leather”.
Emotional connection
“There is an emotional connection with leather products that is not emphasized enough in my opinion”, Kutskill explains. “Objects change over time, along with you and the way you use them. We need to educate people about this component, this added value. Because we often create leather that is so finished and covered that it’s no longer really distinguishable from faux leather”. For her, it’s really a “personal issue”. An example? “The best leather item I have belonged to my grandmother, and she is 67 years old. This would never have happened if that product was made from a petroleum derivative”.
Curiosity and Awareness
“We need to create content in a form that is suitable for everyone”, comments Kyle Gross. This is why digital marketing has great potential. “We need to talk about leather by leveraging environmental sustainability so that the topic touches as many people as possible. Because people care about the environment, so this aspect can raise attention and overcome the misinformation surrounding leather”. But not only that. “It is also interesting for people to understand what they buy. And when a person develops awareness over leather, as if by magic it opens their eyes to many things in their life that they didn’t question about before. For example, whether the interior of one’s car is made of leather or plastic. That’s why we started to create curiosity with our content”.
Global leather community
“We are happy with the collaboration with Lineapelle, UNIC and La Conceria, because only by joining forces can we get together and talk about leather to the younger generation“, Katie Kutskill says with conviction. “The younger generation is the target audience. They are the ones in need of understanding what real leather is, as they will buy leather products. But to do that, it’s not enough to make videos and some content and upload it to the various social platforms. You need to have a strategy and a perspective-that’s our goal”.
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