Napier company Classic Sheepskins, producers of thousands of sheepskin rugs a year and proudly acclaimed the finest in the world, is tackling new challenges with custom orders for rugs from cattle and a growing range of other animals.
Strung across the floor this week at the company's plant in thePandora industrial district, where managing director Maurice Callaghan and three others started the company 43 years ago, were the pelts of a couple of shorthorns, a murray grey, an Angus, and a highland cattle.
Also on the racks are rugs fashioned from the hides of a belted Galloway and a NZ-grown buffalo, and there's also been chamois, thar, goats, wallaby, and, although it's a sensitive subject there are occasionally inquiries about whether the company can fashion rugs or wallhangings, from horses.
A customer recently inquired about the future for the household cat, which wasn't a prospect operations manager Troy McParland was prepared to entertain, considering the cat was still alive.
Mr Callaghan said the development of the cattle rug products came as he looked at diversity to face challenges in the market, particularly from China, using hides sourced from New Zealand.
While there's no suggestion sheepskins are on the way out, he discovered interests, particularly from lifestylers and other small block holders in having the hides from their dead animals turned into rugs.
The interest is global, with loose floor coverings popular on the tiles and marble floors of Europe and the wooden floors of North America, with growing interest in niche footwear and other items.
"These are animals which are not being killed for the skins, it's a by-product, utilising a product that is available," Mr McParland said.
