It was totally by accident that Rachel came into the leather industry and at the time she knew nothing about leather manufacture. However, she describes this as, ‘The best accident I ever had’ and is very proud of what she has achieved.

After leaving school, she joined BLC Leather Technology Centre as a lab technician, where she was also given the opportunity to study for a degree. Her first impression of the industry came when she visited a traditional pit tannery where she felt she had gone back in history. However, whilst she found it interesting, she was surprised that leather manufacture was underpinned by science. She stayed with BLC Leather Technology Centre for twenty years and was involved in leather testing, research, business development and training. She also completed her BSc in applied Biology and MSc in Leather Technology with support from the company.

She is now Director of ICLT and has a wide variety of responsibilities including the coordination of budgets, staff management, quality assessment of academic courses, well as lecturing to students from all around the world! As Rachel puts it, there are lots of balls to juggle but she enjoys the challenge; it is a very satisfying job and no day is boring.

Rachel believes the career opportunities are excellent for those students choosing to study leather. The Institute is proud to have achieved 100% employability for leather graduates over the last three years. Given that the whole supply chain, from animal to final product, is taken into consideration whilst studying at ICLT, fashion and textile students are also attracted to develop their leather knowledge for application further down the supply chain.

The industry is very diverse and provides both an exciting and challenging career.