LASRA works across the full leather production system — from raw material through to finished product — with a focus on improving how hides and skins are processed and used in practice.
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Applied science, technical expertise and industry collaboration supporting the future utilisation of New Zealand hides and skins.
LASRA works across the full leather production system — from raw material through to finished product — helping industry improve the way hides, skins and associated protein resources are processed, utilised and valued.
Our focus is practical application. Every project aims to improve commercial performance, strengthen technical capability and support a resilient New Zealand leather sector.
“The challenge facing the industry today is no longer simply generating new knowledge. It is retaining the capability to apply that knowledge in commercially meaningful ways.”
Supported by pilot-scale processing facilities and specialist testing capability, LASRA develops and evaluates solutions under conditions that closely reflect commercial operation.
Processing Performance
Reducing variability, improving consistency and lowering operating costs throughout leather manufacture.
Resource Utilisation
Developing higher-value pathways for hides, skins and associated protein co-products.
Technology Development
Investigating practical alternatives to existing processing methods and emerging technologies.
Material Verification
Generating credible technical and environmental data to support product development and market confidence.
LASRA has historically participated in Government-supported research programmes, generating valuable technical knowledge for the leather sector.
Today, however, the industry’s greatest challenge is preserving the capability needed to interpret materials, solve processing problems and create commercially viable outcomes within New Zealand.
As specialist expertise becomes increasingly concentrated offshore, maintaining domestic technical capability becomes essential to industry resilience and future competitiveness.
LASRA collaborates directly with tanners, fellmongers, processors and industry partners to address practical challenges affecting processing efficiency, product quality, utilisation and cost.
Projects are selected for their potential to deliver measurable improvements under real operating conditions, ensuring technical developments translate into practical commercial outcomes.
LASRA undertakes confidential client-specific projects covering processing optimisation, material performance, product development and resource utilisation.
The emphasis is always on technically credible solutions that can be implemented in practice and deliver measurable commercial benefit.
Building Capability for the Future
The future competitiveness of New Zealand leather depends not only on new ideas, but on retaining the people, facilities and technical expertise needed to convert those ideas into commercial outcomes.
LASRA’s role is evolving beyond research alone — supporting capability, innovation and industry resilience across the entire leather value chain.
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