Kano, Nigeria

Monday, November 10, 2025

By Kadiatou SAKHO

Almost all Nigerian leather, often semi-processed, is exported to Europe and Asia, where it is used to make luxury items bearing foreign labels. But in Lagos, Isi Omiyi is creating high-end pieces in an attempt to promote Nigerian craftsmanship.

Inside her apartment, she has set up a boutique corner where leather bags, wallets, and shoes are carefully displayed on shelves, priced at up to $1,500.

“Leather is part of our heritage. I can’t just stand by and watch others take all the credit for work that we started here,” says the 56-year-old designer, who has made it her mission to highlight “Made in Nigeria” craftsmanship.

“As a Nigerian, I would like foreign brands to label their products ‘made in Nigeria’ and ‘made in Italy’ or ‘made in France,’” she adds.

According to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Nigeria exports 90% of its leather production, mainly to Italy and Spain, which account for more than 71% of the total volume

These exports generate “around $600 million in revenue per year,” explains Oluwole Oyekunle, a researcher at the Nigerian Institute of Leather Technology and Science in Samaru, Kaduna State (north).

– Kano, the cradle of tanneries –

It is in the state of Kano, in northern Nigeria, that major luxury brands source their supplies, thanks to intermediaries who act as a link between them and the tanners. The region is home to 11 tanneries, including Ztannery, which has been in operation since 2010.

Every day, his company receives dozens of fresh goat, sheep, and lamb hides from Nigeria and neighboring countries. They are sorted and processed within nine days.

“We receive the raw material and transform it from scratch into semi-processed leather, which represents 80% of the entire process,” explains its owner, Abbas Hassan Zein, 47.

The skins are then transported by intermediaries to Europe, where they are shaped before being sold to luxury brands such as “Gucci, Ferragamo, Prada, Louis Vuitton, all the big names,” says Mr. Zein.

In the tannery, employees work busily at machines that wash, treat, and dye the hides, accustomed to the incessant noise, the air saturated with acrid smells, and the stifling heat.

Modern tanneries such as Ztannery, equipped with machines capable of carrying out all stages of leather processing, only accept large orders paid for in dollars or euros, which limits local designers’ access to Nigerian leather.

Many of them therefore turn to the traditional Majema tannery, founded in 1932 in the heart of the city of Kano, where everything is done by hand.

There, dozens of tanners work busily to clean and dye the hides on the dirt floor, surrounded by plastic waste.

Tirelessly, they soak the hides in basins filled with water and chemicals, and meticulously remove any remaining hair.

“Our customers come from the north and south, and we also export to neighboring countries such as Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Cotonou (Benin), and Europe,” explains Mustapha Umar, 52, a tannery manager, standing in front of goat skins hanging from wires, which will be dyed red and yellow the next day.

– Structuring the industry –

In 2017, Femi Olayebi, founder of the Nigerian brand Femihandbags, created the Lagos Leather Fair, an annual event that brings together around 100 leather professionals in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital.

“There was a need for a platform dedicated to designers, products, and leather suppliers, one that shows that Nigerians, with their own resources, are capable of creating items that are worth buying,” she says.

Public and private initiatives are multiplying to structure the industry in the continent’s most populous country.

In Kano, “brands from India, China, and Europe, not necessarily from the luxury sector, are showing a real interest in producing here,” says Tijjani Sule Garo, managing director of GB Tannery, a family business that dates back three generations.

In August, the state of Lagos inaugurated a factory in the Mushin district, designed to produce leather goods and create 10,000 jobs, not far from one of the country’s largest leather markets.

“We need better machines, better access to quality Nigerian leather, and above all, better training to be competitive, especially in the luxury sector, against the giants of the industry,” says Femi Olayebi.

For David Lawal, 26, marketing manager for the leather goods brand Morin.O, beyond the commercial aspect, it is about promoting an identity.

Many customers are looking for “a timeless expression of heritage,” told through leather products created in Nigeria and made by Nigerians, he says.

Humaniterre with AFP

Photos Olympia de Maismont