This research established that fishskin leather is still in the introductory stage of its product life cycle, in spite of the fact that the leather has been in existence for more than 200 years. The reasons why such an innovative product did not have more widespread prestige were studied. It was found that a critical factor was a need for a change in attitude about the leather by both manufacturers and consumers. Further, there appeared to be little activity directed towards overcoming the observed negative image of a product made from the skin of fish, which could be improved by more effective marketing and persuasive advertising. The marketing environment was studied in order to establish how it works and what effect it might have on the marketing of fishskin leather products; consumer acceptance of fishskin leather was also examined, the -research then included a series of steps for grounded theory building according to Eisenhardt and Dibb and Simkin. This work was designed to contribute to the innovation-development process, to include consumer acceptance of fishskin leather products. As a result, a model was constructed by modifying that of Albrecht, Horne, Kunz and Stout to produce an international and national model of fishskin leather marketing channels. Survey and statistical research began with the isolation of a representative sample from the target population consisting of tanners, designers, manufacturers and retailers - a city centre survey of the opinions of shoppers was also carried out, as were a series of case studies. From the literature and interviews, significant variables were selected so that a questionnaire could be constructed, and pilot tested prior to circulation. Two forms of analysis were applied to the collected data. The first was descriptive which allowed the data to be cleaned up and for the researcher to become more familiar with the data. Descriptive statistics were followed by submitting normally distributed data to the multivariate techniques of factor and cluster analysis. The statistical analysis identified that the most important new product characteristics were quality, craftsmanship, price and style, and that the most successful marketing strategies were those of product and price of the retail marketing mix or the four p's product, price, place and promotion. This research has produced a better understanding of the factors involved in the diffusion of fishskin leather. It has also identified the strategic methods and marketing innovation activities needed for the marketing of fishskin leather products.