Bowron Sheepskins

Bowron Sheepskins have been hand crafted with pride by G.L.BOWRON & CO. LTD. New Zealand since 1879 when two brothers, George and William Bowron, master tanners of Yorkshire, England, set sail for Christchurch in the new colony of New Zealand. They were to embark on a new life and carve out their personal dream of developing and opening up a tannery bearing their own name.

At the time, the population of Christchurch was a modest 29,000 but already the surrounding province of Canterbury was considered to be the leading agriculture centre of New Zealand, renowned for the quality of its sheep flocks. As the small tannery flourished in Christchurch, a family tradition of excellence in lambskin and sheepskin tanning and manufacturing began.

After going from strength to strength in the intervening years, BOWRON, during the late 1990’s led the world with the introduction of the new bench mark in the tanning process known as the ‘Whitan Process’. This process quickly became internationally recognized as a break through, resulting in improved quality and significantly reduced environmental impact. During this period BOWRON invested considerable capital in the construction of a new state of the art tannery. The new closed loop Whitan process, combined leading edge chemistry with the accumulated 100 years of heritage and hand crafting knowledge and experience.

A company that never rests on its laurels, BOWRON’s ethos is to focus on the future with out forgetting the path it has already travelled.