BULLETIN ISSUE 27: 2020 29: Autumn Spring 2020
I HAVE HAD A BIT TO DO WITH ONE OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST PROFESSIONS RECENTLY... A F E W W O R D S F R O M TO N Y E G A N I have had a bit to do with one of the worlds oldest professions recently. A trade that has been intrinsically human since ancient times, it liberated Adam and Eve from the fig leaf and by the 14th Century Old English gave us the word ‘Fell’, meaning skins, and ‘Monger’, meaning dealer, to describe this precursor to leather making. We wear it, sit on it, carry it around, and now I am a proud fellmonger myself at its latest iteration … ‘The Waitoa Tannery’. Some might say it is a dirty business … there is certainly more competition these days from those who believe the fig leaf should be front and center. The cat walks of the world are struggling to come to terms with the fact we use animals and pollute the planet. Many view our oldest of professions with a weary eye and a moral indignation that could become a Greek tragedy if we let it. The fig leaf is on the rise and fellmongers are feeling the pinch … our old profession is no longer as sexy as it once was … punters are not paying what they once did … clearly it’s time to lift our game! The first thing I have learnt about the hide business is that size matters. Our industry is full of people who like to go it alone, not sure what the word is to describe them, but I do know that we can do a better job cleaning up our act if we get together and scale up. We invited all our traditional enemies to join us, turning this old profession into a veritable love fest. So far, it has given birth to several beautiful JV’s. These have us collaborating … not just in hides, but in composting for paunch grass and perhaps most encouraging of all pet food, where the red meat partners have formed a jolly triumvirate with poultry and seafood! With all this modern thinking going on, there is hope yet for this our oldest of professions. If we keep it up for long enough the fig leaf will be forced to concede that we have the job covered!
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