Over 300 years of History

The company's history can be traced back to 1758. In the 18th century John Muirhead was exporting chamois and glove leather to America. After some years of depression John turned to making glue from the raw skins and this business prospered until about 1820. John's son James took over the business in 1826 on his father's death. James had thirteen children, the youngest of which was Andrew.

Andrew had learnt much in his father's skin and glue works and when the business was transferred to him in 1840 he named it Andrew Muirhead & Co. In 1870 the company moved to its present site, Dalmarnock Works, formerly a flax and jute mill.

Since that time the company concentrated its production of upholstery leathers in conjunction with case, bag and shoe leathers. Over time the company's upholstery leather achieved worldwide recognition and is presently exported to over 30 countries. Case, bag and shoe leathers were phased out of production in the 1960's to allow the company to meet the demand for its high performance leathers.

In 1968 Andrew Muirhead & Son, now a limited company, completed the formation of the Scottish Leather Group, a privately owned company with five specialist leather manufacturing subsidiaries, whose aim it is to achieve the highest standard of craftsmanship and quality.

In May 1988 the company achieved Register Firm status with the British Standards Institution and operate an approved BS 5750: Part 2/ISO9002 Quality Assurance System. The following year Andrew Muirhead & Son Ltd. were awarded a BSI 'Kite Mark Licence'. Both achievements are the first of the kind in the industry world wide.

Today the company is acknowledged as the largest supplier of quality upholstery leathers to the airline industry, supplying over forty airline and aircraft manufacturers globally. Upholstery leathers for quality contract and domestic seating and specialist automotive application still remain the largest proportion of production with many bespoke and specialist applications also being catered for.