Opportunities for ISA as alternative materials start-ups struggle
The chief executive of leather manufacturing group ISA Nextgen, Uwe Hutzler, has said the group has had access to “new opportunities” in 2025 following the falling away of the production of certain alternative materials.
In comments summarising the group’s activities in 2025, Mr Hutzler confirmed that it had been a challenging year owing to geopolitical uncertainty and trade tensions linked to tariffs.
These challenges are unresolved. “We might see further disruptions in 2026,” he said.
He went on to say that the group was committed to working out the best way to keep moving forward, adding that ISA had benefited in 2025 from paying “greater attention to sustainability and compliance in leather production”.
Then he said another development that had provided ISA with new opportunities was “the struggles and disappearance of so-called plant-based start-ups”.
In 2021, the ISA group set up a new division it called Creation Of Sustainable Materials (COSM) to focus is on bio-based materials that offer an alternative to plastic-based synthetics.
It has said this business unit complements its leather manufacturing by making sustainable materials available to brands that want to offer non-leather shoes and bags.
