By Muhammad Junaid Vohra | The Leather Dude

Seven years ago I was asked by my mentor from an incubation program to write your goal on a piece of paper and I wrote :

“The Leather Dude the World was waiting for” Forbes cover, 2025.

2025 came and went.

The Forbes cover didn’t happen.

But something else did. Something I didn’t plan for and couldn’t have manufactured.

In the three weeks of Ramadan 2026 ,while the Middle East was engulfed in the US-Iran crisis, while global trade was fracturing, while the leather industry searched desperately for its narrative ,I was doing something quietly extraordinary.

And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I finally understood what I am actually here to do.

What I Was Doing While The World Was Burning

While meeting my German Leather supplier this January, we spoke about what are the options on the table for EU citizens, I showed them their leaders are making them prepare for a war.

 

The world in Ramadan 2026 was not a calm place to be building anything. The casual discussion we had in Germany came haunting us real time within two months. 

Global trade was fracturing under the weight of tariffs and uncertainty. Institutions were pausing international commitments. My samples were being destroyed in Turkey. Leather Shipments from Italy and Germany kept cancelling. The Strait of Hormuz was blocked. Brands that had promised sustainability roadmaps went quiet.

And somewhere in the noise of all of that, I had a realisation that I wrote on X one morning, simply:

“Real war is in your head. How you perceive the situation and how you face the odds.”

Because the real war, I discovered, was never outside.

It was the war between who I had been, and who I was finally becoming.

I was curating an exhibition. Artwear by Allia ,a Manchester-based artist whose work blends Mughal heritage with contemporary sculptural craft , came to Karachi looking for an entry point into Pakistan’s cultural landscape. They had their exhibition in Dubai cancelled amidst the backdrop of war, uncertainty and fear. We knew each other for some years, connected through Linkedin, she came down to Karachi in my Makers Studio and a few more meetups where we shared our mutual love for leather, design and heritage.

I became her entry point.

In last eighteen days of Ramadan, I made her meet Pakistan’s most legendary fashion designer Bunto Kazmi, art curators and brand owners. I assembled a guest list that included Karachi Biennale curators, Reuters contributors, ministry officials, celebrity stylists and class-A social figures for a private showcase of Allia's work.

The exhibition was supposed to happen in Ramadan, but our PR company insisted that we schedule it to third day of Eid instead, since Allia's work was not something , someone can casually wear on Eid Festive.

Overlooking the Arabian Sea. With garments that carried centuries of craft on their shoulders. The exhibition happened. Selected people from my guest list showed up. The PR company failed badly in attracting a handful of people despite getting paid a hefty amount weeks in advance. To me it was disappointing. For Allia and Asim it was "overwhelmingly exciting" beacause people like Rumana Husain, Nilofar Farrukh and other art loving critics showed up on my invitation. 

My friend Asim Khan a materials expert, collaborator with ECCO Leather, Apple's Material Design Research consultant and Allia’s husband watched me work through all of this and gave me a title :

“The Strategic Leather Dude.”

 

What I Have Been Building

I am a 4th generation leather tradesman from Karachi.

My great grandfather traded leather in Kolkata. My grandfather continued after Partition. My father built connections across the industry. I grew up surrounded by the smell of hides and the scraps from BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Porsche interiors.

But somewhere along the way I asked a question nobody in my family had asked before:

What if children could play with Leather?

That question became Leather for Kids a material literacy initiative that has now reached 8,000+ children across Pakistan, the UK, Norway and Italy through 61 workshops, 55 trained facilitators and 543 hours of supervised learning. Entirely self-financed.

That question took me to Lineapelle in Milan as an official delegate. To Spielwarenmesse in Germany, where leather was featured for the first time ever at an international toy fair. To a UNIDO-GEF funded sustainability consultation. To being an official leather supplier for the President of Pakistan.

 

That question produced a white paper “Material Literacy Through Making”validated by academics from the University of Northampton, the University of Modena, and IULTCS. A panel that gathered experts from three countries to discuss whether leather could become the material through which the next generation learns to think about craft, sustainability and the physical world.

The answer, overwhelmingly, was YES.

What The World Actually Needs

The leather industry is at a crossroads.

The world’s greatest brands , Kerring, Hugo Boss, LVMH are afraid. Afraid of consumers who don’t understand where leather comes from. Afraid of a narrative that they’ll be confronted by animal rights and environmental activists. 

Meanwhile a generation of children is growing up swiping screens, wearing leather shoes they never questioned, carrying bags whose origin is a complete mystery to them.

The disconnect between material and meaning has never been wider.

This is precisely where I operate.

Not as a trader. Not as a manufacturer. Not as a typical consultant.

As someone who translates the language of craft into something the next generation can hold in their hands, make with their own creativity, and carry with them for life.

I don’t just connect people. I create the conditions for materials to find their story.

 

What I Have Learned About Myself

I spent years trying to fit into frameworks that were never built for what I do.

I am not a typical leather businessman. I am not a typical educator. I am not a typical consultant.

I am something the industry doesn’t have a clean job title for yet.

A Leather Strategist  

Someone who makes "Leather Lovers" feel native in cities they don’t know.

Someone who builds bridges between heritage and the future ,between industry and academia, between Pakistan and the world, between ancient craft and the children who will inherit it.

The three weeks of Ramadan 2026 with all their difficulty, all their uncertainty, all their lessons ,clarified this completely.

I am not waiting to become something.

I already am something.

The world is simply still catching up.

What Comes Next

The world is still at war as I write this. Pakistan brokered a ceasefire between Iran and the USA. What a time to be a Pakistani. The four astronauts came back circling the moon.

The uncertainty hasn’t resolved. The trade routes are still fractured. The leather industry is still searching for its story.

But here is what I know about wars, having lived through the noise of this one from the inside:

“Where there is an Oppenheimer, there is always a Barbie world.”

I tweeted this on X back in July of 2023.

Where there is destruction, there is always someone quietly building.

The leather industry doesn’t need another voice telling it what it’s losing.

It needs someone who can show the next generation what it still has.

That is what I do.

And I am just getting started.

I am currently in conversation with academic institutions in Pakistan, the UK and Italy about a formal research paper that will document what happens when children encounter leather as a learning material. I am building a framework for corporate partnerships that want to invest in material literacy as a genuine sustainability strategy ,not just CSR optics.

I am making myself available for keynotes, workshops, consulting engagements and strategic cultural curation for brands and institutions that understand the value of what hands touching real materials can do for the next generation.

If you are working at the intersection of craft, heritage, sustainability and education ,I want to hear from you.

The leather industry needs a new narrative.

I have been building it for a decade.

It’s time. 

The Leather Dude | Leather for Kids | Material Literacy Advocate

www.theleatherdude.com