We are lucky to be able to collaborate with LASRA (Leather and Shoe Research Association based in Palmerston North) who are world leaders in Leather and Shoe research. This from their blog in November.
https://www.lasra.co.nz/mens-shoes-from-ovine-leather/
Thanks to help from Lynne Rosenbrock and the team from McKinlay’s in Dunedin, a LASRA member company, we have had the opportunity to cut, sew, and make up some example shoes using the latest heavier weight sheep leather prepared using LASRA’s ovine leather process. The leather produced for these shoes was made in pilot trials, and finished by a cooperating leather tannery, for a variation of MBIE funded project LSRX0801. One of the objectives of this project was to determine if heavier weight sheep leather could be successfully prepared using LASRA’s ovine shoe leather process. We think the results have turned out rather well.