In the Member Spotlight this week is Joseph Cheaney, a British heritage firm which has been manufacturing shoes and boots in Desborough since 1886.
The Daily Update speaks to Kelly Hayes, whose decade-long career at the firm has seen her rise to the role of office services manager, responsible for overseeing imports and exports.
She explains that, while the entire manufacturing process takes place in Northamptonshire – all 200 steps, from cutting the leather through to polishing and lacing – Joseph Cheaney operates within a global supply chain, with raw leather imports and a global customer base requiring plenty of customs know-how.
In recent years, Hayes has navigated challenges including new sustainability requirements, post-Brexit customs regulations and ongoing tariff threats.
Tracking documents
On the import side, the firm sources leather from across Europe, with Hayes listing suppliers from Poland, Germany and Italy, as well as Serbia and the US.
While the cow leather that the firm buys doesn’t require any permits under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the firm must comply with Italy’s version of the legislation: the Washington Declaration.
When it comes to demonstrating compliance, Hayes says that communication is key, and that she’s always in close contact with suppliers and leather agents to make sure documents are available and easily accessible in case of an audit. This is a point made more pressing by the divergent requirements existing among even the three EU nations Joseph Cheaney imports from:
“We make sure that the supplier is putting the declaration on the invoices, otherwise they reach customs and then there’s a delay.
“That's been our biggest challenge, I think, getting Europe to comply as well – they don't work as one, each country's got their own individual rules.”
Sustainability
It’s not just about compliance, Hayes adds, noting that customers are taking a greater interest in product supply chains, driven by concerns about sustainability and ethical sourcing:
“Globally, customers are becoming much more aware, and they want to know where their products are coming from.
“All our tanneries are accredited; we want to make sure we're using the best-quality product.”
DPP concerns…
Nonetheless, sustainability and compliance have come together as the firm prepares for the EU’s new Digital Product Passport (DPP) requirements, which specify that products from carbon-intensive sectors carry key supply chain information via scannable digital markers, like barcodes and QR codes.
While Hayes lauds the intention, she expresses concerns about data confidentiality.
“For us, and for people in the shoe industry as a whole,” she says, “there’s an element of not wanting to give away too much information.”
“We don't want to tell everybody where we get our leather from because somebody's just going to go and copy us – we don't want to give away all our secrets.”
…and preparation
She’s still overseeing the firm’s DPP strategy, which involves efficiently “rolling our DPP out alongside a change of barcode label”.
“While everybody's going to be creating QR codes, we're trying to work that in [with our barcode], so that our DPP will already sit behind our new barcode code by the time we’re asked for that information.”
With concerns raised about creating scannable codes at a recent Lunchtime Learning session on DPP, when asked for her approach, Hayes says that Joseph Cheaney has outsourced barcode creation.
She describes the landscape for QR code-creation as “an absolute minefield”. While a lot is available affordably, it’s not necessarily compatible with DPP compliance.
“There are so many ways to create a QR code, but you've then got to have the software to back it up for the DPP.”
Entrusting the process to an appropriate firm means “you know they can then keep up with the legislation” and update the DPP with your data as required.
Tariff concerns
Reflecting on the firm’s exporting practices, Hayes cites the US as Joseph Cheaney’s biggest e-commerce market. While other companies are watching out for product-specific tariff announcements, Hayes is looking out for an update on de minimis rules.
The US currently operates a high ‘minimum’ value at which imported parcels are subject to customs duties: US$800. However, in a bid to clamp down on increasing Chinese e-commerce imports, led by platforms such as Temu and Shein, US president Donald Trump has announced a lower value and new checks on goods.
While the measure has currently been suspended, it is set to be implemented in the near future, with warnings already issued that UK firms are likely to get caught up in the rule change.
Hayes says that a lowering of the value will hit the firm’s single-order US buyers:
“Our shoes sell at around the four, five-hundred-pound mark, if [the de minimis] gets taken away, it’s going to be a hard hit for those customers ordering underneath that.”
Given that some of Joseph’s Cheaney’s leather is also imported from the US, Hayes is still concerned about spiralling costs stemming from a trade war if reciprocal tariffs were to be applied to leather or shoes.
“Those charges would feed down the chain – the costs have to go somewhere.
“If we end up with high tariffs, then it could be very detrimental to the US business for us. Our customers aren’t going to buy if we have to pass on big tariffs.”
Windsor Framework
Closer to home, Hayes says compliance with the Windsor Framework is still challenging a year after its rules were introduced. This is largely due to concerns raised by the importer’s obligations to comply with ‘Green Lane’ requirements.
Even after figuring out “what hoops you’ve got to jump through to get into the Green Lane,” she says there’s no guarantee that Northern Irish businesses will comply by not selling products into the Republic of Ireland.
“It’s not been a viable option for us,” she adds, “because we can't impose [those rules] on somebody that we sell to in Northern Ireland.”
“Whatever their business model is, we can't say: ‘You can’t do that with our product’. It’s not fair.”
“So, we are staying in the red lane at the moment,” she concludes, “which presents other challenges of additional paperwork, which can cause delays.”
‘Not on our own’
For practical insight on these challenges and community-based support, Hayes says that the Chartered Institute’s member-exclusive Special Interest Groups (SIGs) were especially helpful.
“It’s great to get information from people in different sectors, that are professionals in the industry. Those who have been in the industry for a long time.
“It’s also great to hear that we’re not on our own, we're not the only ones going through this.”
You can explore the Chartered Institute’s membership options here. Existing members can also review upcoming SIGs.
Member exclusive
