LEATHER TRAINING – HOW IT CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS
Training – the solution to survival
Survival in business is a key topic in today’s economic climate
Diversification and adaptation is one critical key to survival
Diversification means moving into new skill areas or becoming highly proficient with current skills to offer comprehensive or different services in related areas.
Training and education is the safest and quickest way to develop new areas, and brush up on the latest advances in products and processes.
Learning a new skill set Leather cleaning, Leather Repair or Leather Restoration will enable you to communicate more confidently with clients about areas of work that you may previously have avoided. Even if you have no desire or intention of undertaking the work yourself you can still sell the necessity for the work to the client through your confidence in the subject and pass the work onto a colleague or subcontract it. If, sometime in the future you are considering this new area of work then you can be on the lookout for jobs suitable for your newly acquired skill at the appropriate level while handing on jobs that you feel may be beyond you at the present time.
LTT Leathercare Ltd specialise in training courses covering the cleaning, repair, and restoration of leather.
As specialist instructors and consultants to the leather industry LTT are very aware that with the increasing diversity of types and finishes of leather on the market, the standard established products and processes are often proving ineffective and sometimes risky when the products and processes are not matched correctly to a particular leather type.
There has also been a rapid increase in the number of products (particularly those for cleaning) being produced by so-called ‘experts’ who have in fact no real expertise in the market and would be unable to offer any real technical advice should things go wrong.
Leather finishes, including aniline style, micro-pigments, two-tone and crackle glazes are now commonplace rather than rare and knowing the differences between them together with how you approach cleaning and repair becomes a necessity. Picking the wrong product or process could lead to an expensive claim as well as putting you off leather for life!!
Education is the obvious solution to many of these issues but for the technician, there is always a cost to any worthwhile training, not only the course itself but travel, accommodation, beer etc! but the largest element is often time away from work, particularly for sole traders.
Recently with the growth of the internet, a lot of emphases is being put on Forums and other information sources to provide the knowledge and information to overcome problems out in the field. Whilst some forums and internet sites can be a good source of knowledge you need to realise that the information you are reading may be supplied by anyone, experienced or not, who will not fully understand the circumstances and may unwittingly make a situation worse. This is particularly true when people put up ‘quick fix’ solutions. We are constantly amazed by the array of ‘shopping list’ products that are used to clean leather – from baby wipes to peanut butter. Once ruined, you as a technician are expected to ‘clean’ the problem better.
Advice and training should always be based on ‘best practice’; ‘quick fixes’ are something that are learned with experience and should only be attempted by those who have abilities to deal with all possible outcomes.
Leather Identification is the most important and complex area of study for those thinking of going into leather cleaning and repair work but also the area that most people think that they don’t need, preferring instead to get straight to the hands-on practical stuff. Our 1 day and 3-day courses are based on the fundamentals of Leather Identification – often totally overlooked or quickly glossed over by other training companies.
Training in the field of leather cleaning, repair and restoration can be a very lucrative ‘add-on’ to your current business or the foundation of a completely new one. Whatever direction you choose LTT Leathercare are here to help and support you in the process.
