Ukraine: Footwear importers urge for clearer leather labelling
The president of Ukraine’s League of Footwear Producers, Oleksandr Borodynia, has said that 70% of artificial leather shoes in the country are imported from China.
“Last year, Ukraine imported 109 million pairs of Chinese shoes, of which only 6% were made of genuine leather,” Mr Borodynia said. He continued to explain that 70% of all footwear in the market is from China and it is almost all made of artificial leather.
However, Mr Borodynia said that the majority of Ukrainians believe the shoes they buy are made of leather. “When we survey consumers, almost three-quarters of the buyers say they buy shoes only from genuine leather,” he said.
Mr Borodynia is now urging the introduction of an order from the Ukranian government to make it compulsory to indicate what footwear sold in the country is made of.
