Company History

In 1965 while still a student, G. M. Kinger started a Company in India called Shanti. Shanti's main business was trading in promotional products. At that time, vinyl promotional products, it accounted for most of Shanti's business. In 1970, Shanti set up a manufacturing facility for vinyl items. The products manufactured were sold strictly on a business-to-business basis for use at conferences, conventions, trade shows and other promotional events.

In 1980 Shanti began manufacturing leather products and its whole production was marketed in the countries that formed the Gulf Cooperation Council.

To ensure highest standards of production, Shanti imported Sewing Machines from Pfaff, Skiving and Splitting Machines from Fortuna of Germany and Clicking Machines from Allevi of Italy. All these machines were state of the art and only the best leather was used. Highly skilled artisans were employed to handcraft the products. This enabled Shanti to produce high-end leather gifts that were comparable to what was sold at prestigious fashion boutiques. This fanatical attention to quality is maintained even to this day.

In April 2001, the name of the company was changed from Shanti to LeatherGifts Direct and a Sales & Marketing Operation was set-up in Canada with Malcolm J. Gomes as the President.

High-end leather products sell at around 8 times the manufacturing cost because of the various middlemen like Agents, Importers, Wholesalers, Distributors and Retailers. Since products manufactured by LeatherGifts Direct are supplied direct to the customer, they are able to offer high-end leather products at a fraction of retail prices. LeatherGifts Direct products are not available in retail stores at any price.

With G. M. Kinger - President, and Niloofer Bapuna - Director, at the helm, LeatherGifts Direct has become the leather gifts supplier of choice to reputed companies like American Express, Mercedes Benz, Cadillac, Emirates Airlines, Nestle, Xerox, Exxon Mobil, American Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, Citibank, BMW, Honda and Leading Hotels of the World In Switzerland to name a few.

In less than a year since launching their Sales & Marketing Operation in Canada, LeatherGifts Direct (Canada) has already got a client roster that includes reputed names like Royal Bank, TD Canada Trust, Barclays Bank, RBC Investments, AT&T, Computershare, McMillan Binch, Durham Region, Brinks, AGF Funds Management and the University of Toronto.

Mission Statement

We aim to exceed customer expectations of product quality and customer service and to maintain the highest level of integrity, professionalism and mutual respect in all dealings.