Leather exporters in India: leather goods and footwear

The leather and footwear clusters, how to check an exporter, and ready lists with contacts.

Updated 13 October 2026 · 4 min read

Leather exporters in India: from tannery to finished shoe

Leather exporters in India belong to a few trades that depend on one another. Decide which one you want before you call, because a tannery and a wallet maker need very different things:

Tanneries turn raw hides and skins into finished leather, sold to makers in India and abroad.
Footwear makers produce leather shoes, sandals and uppers, and many also make non-leather footwear.
Leather goods makers produce bags, wallets, belts, small accessories and gloves.
Leather garment units make jackets and other clothing.
Saddlery makers supply saddles, bridles and other riding equipment, a long-standing speciality of Kanpur.

Footwear exporters in India usually buy finished leather, soles and components from separate suppliers, so the clusters hold whole supply chains, with tanneries, component makers and factories side by side. For anyone selling into the trade, that means customers sit close together.

The leather clusters, from Kanpur to Ambur

Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh: the tanneries of Jajmau, plus saddlery, industrial gloves and footwear.
Agra, Uttar Pradesh: footwear, from small workshops to large export factories.
Chennai, Tamil Nadu: tanning, footwear and leather garments, and the offices of many exporters.
Ambur, Vaniyambadi and Ranipet, Tamil Nadu: tanneries and shoe factories, many of them working for overseas brands.
Kolkata, West Bengal: tanneries and leather goods such as bags, wallets and belts.

Checking a leather or footwear exporter

The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) is the export promotion council for leather, leather products and footwear, and exporters in the trade register with it for a registration-cum-membership certificate (RCMC). Ask for it, then run three free checks:

IEC: look up the firm's Importer-Exporter Code on the DGFT site.
GST: confirm the legal name and active status on the GST portal.
For a tannery: ask for its consent to operate from the state pollution control board and how its effluent is treated.

These tell you a firm is genuine, not what it shipped. Shipment records come from customs-based trade data, sold separately; our exporters and importers database guide explains the difference. What Starleads sells is exporters' contact details.

Leather exporters list: where to start

Leather and footwear firms are part of our All-India Exporters list of 1,90,701 exporters in 523 cities, where a category column on 84% of rows names the product. 68% have a mobile number and 91% an email address; 56% name a contact person. Each list page shows 60 real rows and has a free Excel sample.

Leather lists cut from it

State lists for the leather regions

The leather towns are spread out, so a state list is often the easier start: Tamil Nadu for Chennai, Ambur, Vaniyambadi and Ranipet, Uttar Pradesh for Kanpur and Agra, West Bengal for Kolkata. These hold exporters of every product, so filter by category:

Need one town only, such as Ambur? Request a custom list and say which towns and products you want.

Who sells to tanneries and shoe factories

Chemical suppliers: tanning agents, dyes, fatliquors and finishing chemicals.
Machinery dealers: splitting and shaving machines for tanneries; clicking presses and stitching, lasting and sole-attaching machines for footwear.
Component makers: soles, heels, insoles, lasts, buckles, zips, linings, threads and adhesives.
Water and effluent specialists, since tanneries must treat their effluent, often through a treatment plant shared by the cluster.
Testing labs for the restricted chemicals on which overseas buyers set limits.
Packaging firms: shoe boxes, tissue, cartons and dust bags.
Freight forwarders and couriers handling container shipments and urgent samples by air.
Brands and buyers in India and abroad looking for a factory to make their range.

How to approach a leather unit

Find the right department. In a shoe factory, the development or sampling team picks new components and purchase places repeat orders. In a tannery, the technical manager decides on chemicals.
Open with something they can test. For example: "Good afternoon, I'm Karthik from Velan Soles in Ranipet. We mould PU and TPR soles to your last and can send trial pairs in ten days. Who handles sole development for your export orders?"
Call late morning on a weekday, after the shift has settled and before lunch. A factory racing to a shipment date is hard to reach; ask when the container goes and call after.
Be ready for their questions: price per pair or per kilo, minimum order, whether your material passes their buyers' chemical tests, sampling time and credit terms.
Visit with samples. Leather people judge by touch, so a sample kit on the table does more than a brochure.

Check our DND guide before calling at scale, and compare any list against our checklist for choosing a data provider.

Leather trade questions

Can I get a list of shoe exporters only?

Filter the category column of the exporters list for footwear and shoes. If you want shoe makers in particular towns, a custom list request is the quickest route.

Do leather exporters also sell in India?

Many do. Tanneries sell finished leather to Indian makers, and many footwear and leather goods factories make for Indian brands alongside export orders. Expect minimum quantities set for export-sized runs.