INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK: JOHN FITZGERALD, FOUNDER, IRISH SALMON LEATHER COMPANY
Fish skin becoming fashion icon as material for modern tastes
Some fashion trends are only skin-deep but the fish of knowledge is wearing well as it bags a niche in the market for luxury goods, writes PAT BOYLE
His salmon skin leather has been chosen by the Townsend Leather Company to supply the interior of a new Lear jet and it is found in numerous hand-crafted products from wallets to dog collars, but founder John Fitzgerald still believes the public has yet to fully grasp the value of his product.
Salmon skin leather was one of the top draws at last week's Crafts Fair in the RDS, where visitors to the Irish Salmon Leather stand were given a lecture by Fitzgerald on the durability and peerless quality of his leather.
In its short life span, the salmon undertakes an epic voyage, a journey that sees this king of fish navigate some 20,000 miles from the small streams of the shel-tered uplands to the ocean depths of the mid-Atlantic.
Its migratory lifestyle has imbued the salmon with a degree of mystery and helped it claim its lofty perch as the king of fish.
In ancient folklore it is the source of Fionn MacCumhaill's wisdom, and to this day children read with wonder the tale of his conversion from simple servant boy to all-knowing sage.
Fitzgerald is an inventive thinker and recently launched a presentation sliotar. "It's not meant to be a working model, more an alternative to the gold watch or cut crystal for the retiring coach or club official. We have had a great response to them."
The original idea for salmon leather came to him while working as a fisher-man off the coast of Canada. Turning discarded salmon skins into leather became the mission for the next three years — the length of time it took him to research and develop the process. This was a bit longer than he had anticipated but if the reward for hard work, innovation and perseverance is success, then he deserves it in spadefuls.
After seven years, his salmon skin leather business is finally getting the type of recognition it deserves.
The plaudits are certainly plentiful, and it would appear a certainty in the New Year that hundreds of Irish people will be sporting his finely crafted leather.
Just how we might be sporting it he will not reveal, though he does say that the product is being manufactured in Italy and is destined for the shelves of a major mid-market retailer.
At its most basic level,Fitzgerald’s product is a cured fish skin and it is hard to believe that it is competing with the finest leathers for tenders to cover everything from the interior of a Lear jet to the simplest of card holders.
Its durability is ensured by the toughness of the orig-inal product.Unlike cow hide, for instance, which at its most extreme has to endure some wind and rain, the salmon plunges to the ocean depths where its skin is under two atmospheric pressures.
It migrates from extreme cold deep waters to the shallow streams of the spawning grounds.
The net result is a skin which, while extremely tough, is also delicate enough to please some of the world's best-known designers of hand-crafted products.
Fitzgerald lists some of the designers who have used his product, including the likes of fashion guru Paul Smith, Tony Blair's favourite shoe designer Oliver Sweeney, and the Irish designer Jen Kelly among them.
The Townsend deal in particular excites him, not only because of the high-profile client, but also because he believes it will open the door to a new market — the world of luxury interiors, whether it is a Lear jet or luxury yacht.
"I know I'm doing something right when the best designers accept and use my product over others. It's not just a matter of ego, but gives me a real sense of achievement. I know this product is going to take off," he says.
There are two sides to the business, he explains. "On the one, the designers who use my salmon leather; on the other, the products we are aiming to make and sell to the corporate gifts mar-ket.
"It's a huge business and we have made some inroads with major companies such as Irish Distillers and the helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky.
"But corporate gifts are not just the preserve of the big companies — we have done work for Chapter One, the award-winning restaurant, McConnell's the advertising agency, as well as the new Irish embassy in Australia."
While he is based in Ireland, he got little by way of support, of which most came via the University of Northampton, the leading authority on tanning processes in the world.
They were fantastic," he says, not only in pointing him in the right direction, but also by allowing him access to their laboratory facilities.
Fitzgerald, a Corkman, operates from a base in Dublin, and the Irishness of his salmon skin leather is an important fact when it comes to marketing.
"We are using a sustainable resource, a by-product of the Irish fishing industry," he explains, making an obvious reference to some of the leathers he has to compete with.
These would include many endangered species, including crocodile and snakeskin, but the tide is slowly turning against their use. Fitzgerald says that his salmon skin gives designers a high-quality alternative to these exotic leathers, giving him the additional satisfaction that his product might just help in saving some endangered species cursed with an attractive hide!
Irish Independent - 16th December, 2004
