Exhibiting tanners attending Le Cuir A Paris submitted over 5,000 leather samples for the trend area of which 1,200 were finally selected and allocated into five trend and colour themes at the exhibition held September 15-18. Leathers highlighted were for the autumn/winter 2010/11 season

Beware of fraudulant a company from India

Response from Professor Covington to Dr Das Gupta.

Dear Sir,
Re: Tanning Chemistry: Science of Leather by Professor Tony Covington

During the Tanning Tech Fair in Bologna, Italian machinery specialists, Bergi will introduce their latest through-feed ironing and embossing press, the Starlux S, a model that produces leathers for shoe upper, leathergoods and garment.

Roll-Pack from Italian tannery machinery makers, GER, automatically rolls and bundles leathers and covers them in a film in the warehouse. The machine will be featured on their stand at Tanning Tech this year.

Quite a lot of information has been shared concerning the upgrading of leather. The focus of this article is on shoe upper and fine leathers, but is there a difference between upgrading these leathers and upgrading in general? Yes and no! Some points and mechanisms are similar, some are special as Hartmut Huber, technical manager finishing, Clariant Produkte (Deutschland) GmbH reviews the various upgrading techniques

Now here’s a hiding to nothing. Email from my editor: ‘Name the top 10 leather scientists of all time, and write an article about them.’ Sounds easy and, on the surface, it is. Graham Lampard has a go, and is ready for the letters of incredulity!

BLC Leather Technology Centre present an overview of patent and metallic fashion finishing effects that can be seen on more and more leathers these days. Every few years patent and other highly fashionable finishes applied by foils such as metallic become heavily demanded but often present a range of technical difficulties to the tanner or finisher

At the board meeting held in Sao Paulo on August 13, Wolfgang Goerlich was elected executive president of CICB, the Brazilian Center of Tanners which represents the Brazilian Leather Industry.

China based tanner, Shanghai Richina Leather (SRL), a subsidiary of Richina Industries, announced several organisation changes effective September 4, 2009.
Kerry Brozyna will be leaving SRL after managing SRL’s bovine operations for the past 14 months. He will return to the US to pursue other opportunities. Ronda DeBie, vp of sales and Paul Gagne, vp of product development-marketing will now report directly to SRL president & ceo, Bob Moore

Following the retirement of Rob Morgan, Simon Botterill has been appointed Satra's finance director. Botterill has extensive experience of working at board level and has been responsible for a number of business areas including finance, human resources, estates management, administration and IT.
Botterill qualified as an accountant while working for his first employer, RDL Contracting, which operated in civil and structural engineering. Most recently he worked for seven years as director of finance and estates at North Hertfordshire College.

Muhammad Naseem Shafi, founder and ceo of the Shafi Group of Industries was selected in the Leather International Top 20 Power List published in our last edition. The company have wasted no time in promoting Shafi’s inclusion as seen on their stand at the Le Cuir A Paris show in September

Andrew Tinnion died at his home on August 28, 2009. Tinnion started work at Columbia, the Morlands Tannery in Bermondsey, London. He organised the relocation of the tannery to Redruth in Cornwall and moved to Somerset when he became director of both the Glastonbury and Redruth tanneries.

The successful finishing chemicals business of Turkish leather chemical maker, Sarchem, offers innovative products and processess that offer ecological and economic advantages. Sarchem carry out these according to the demands of leather sector by predicting market trends and being close to customers. A number of the  new finishing products from Sarchem are featured below:

The market has changed direction since the last report. After reaching a peak in the fourteen days leading up to the Shanghai leather fair in the first days of September, steer prices fell with cows showing weakness as well.

Domestic hide prices in Italy have increased by 5 cents for ox/heifers and by 10 cents for cows. A leading domestic hide trader describes the Italian market stable and positive. Surely not all in the leather business in Italy will agree with that.

The Shanghai Fair this year was very interesting as Chinese buyers decided that the market had become over cooked, and consequently they stood back to see what would happen.

Federally Inspected Slaughter in the four week period ended September 5, 2009, amounted to an average weekly kill of 651,250 (627,000 in our previous report). Last year the average for the month was 639,250.

Retanal AOX, a retanning agent with an antioxidant effect, from Spanish leather chemical producer, Cromogenia provides the leather with a soft feel. It also has a good filling effect and produces clean, level dyeing. However, the main difference with synthetic retanning agents is that Retanal AOX has antioxidant power with oxidisable fatliquors types such as lecithin, fish etc. This avoids aging of the leather and the possible formation of chrome VI.

The leather trade is used to taking knocks. Not just because of the recession but the relentless pursuit by pressure groups from animal rights to extreme environmentalists. The shock of the Amazon report from Greenpeace was perhaps the final indicator that all is not well with our industry. We leather people have never worried too much. Consumers love leather and well over 95% is a by-product of the meat and dairy industry. What is more, historically leather has had no viable substitutes in many of its major end uses. Now that high performance textiles, faux leather, luxury fabrics and plastics are so good, leather can be replaced. Consequently the industry needs to find a new powerful voice. Failure to do so will condemn leather to being a mass produced low priced commodity.

The ACLE held in Shanghai at the beginning of September was a great opportunity for the industry to get together and get a feeling for the market in Asia, particularly China. As expected the show was busy and well organised but interestingly lacked the international flavour of the APLF. Stands from India, Italy and Brazil for example were scarce. It is clear that the ACLE is the show for China while the APLF remains the international platform in Asia.

As in many cities around the world, the Syrian tanners of Damascus operate in very old and inefficient tanneries within the city limits, growing literally out of the seams of their pants. Working conditions are extremely difficult and completely lack a minimum of efficiency. The tanners have been ordered to move to a new industrial area called Adra. Contrarily to what happens elsewhere, where people talk for years and years and do nothing, the Syrian tanners have started packing their bags and are actually preparing to move.

Dr Stephan Laubereau, preliminary insolvency administrator for DyStar Textilfarben GmbH & Co. Deutschland KG is currently working on the new production plan for all the German production locations. In addition to this he is responsible for keeping production running and bears all related expenses including energy and environmental costs or costs for the machine maintenance.

The recently formed Taiwanese International Leather Association (TILA) met on September 19 in Dongguan, China to discuss a number of industry related issues. A total of 94 delegates discussed the implications of ICHSLTA’s contract 6 following the ICHSLTA’s council meeting in Shanghai at the beginning of September as well as other trade and technical issues facing Taiwanese tanners in Taiwan and Greater China.

The DyStar production facility in Leverkusen has been started again according to press statement released on October 28 by the preliminary insolvency administrator of DyStar Textilfarben GmbH & Co. Deutschland KG, Dr Stephan Laubereau. ‘We are very happy’, explained Laubereau.

‘Defy the recession with an eye to the future’. This was Assomac’s slogan during the Tanning Tech and Simac trade fairs, held in Bologna October 13-15. Assomac, organisers of the tannery and footwear machinery shows say that the exhibition signalled a strong response to the difficult circumstances worldwide. However, both shows were much smaller than in the past and only a handful of new or updated machinery was shown following a difficult year for the sector.

Stahl have appointed a new team of Italian fashion consultants, Bianco & White, to support their fashion design, colour and advice programme. Based in the fashion centre of Milan, the consultancy is run by Carmen Rimoldi and Sergio Belloni, both of whom have had many experience of working with the various sectors of the leather industry on a worldwide basis.

Valencia, Spain’s third largest city, will host the next IULTCS congress September 28-30, 2011. Dr Vicente Segarra of Inescop’s leather department based in the city has been elected as the chairman of the organising committee. Daniel Sánchez the former chairman has stepped down from the role after a recent relocation to China as technical director of Meihua Leather.

Satra, the UK test house, have seen an increase in requests for dimethylfumarate (DMF) testing of leather footwear and furniture, following the recent directive issued by the European Union (2009/251/EC) restricting the import of products that contain dimethylfumarate. They are also witnessing a large and regular number of product recalls.

A recently updated tannery in the US town of Hartford, Wisconsin, caught fire on October 17. What is known as ‘the town's oldest business’ appeared to escape major damage during the fire.

Local residents are battling a Christchurch tannery's bid to renew its consent to put tannery emissions into the air.
Lowe Corporation seeks a 35-year consent for the continued operation of a coal-fired boiler, which uses a 26 metre high chimney at their plant in Belfast for airborne emissions.

A final decision regarding the future of German based chemical and dyestuff maker, DyStar will become clearer by the end of November say the company’s liquidators.

A new wax filler, EX-FI-13-547, has been introduced by Stahl for use in association with ‘American Lifestyle’ finishes on a wide range of leathers, to which it gives a heavy/dark pull-up effect. It is particularly well-suited to use on shoe upper leathers.

The new tannery is being constructed by the Taiwanese tannery group, Tyche will begin production in the first quarter of 2010. The new factory is located on the east coast of China in Fujian province, at Zhang Zhou city.

The demand for chrome-free tanning continues to increase - not only for automotive leathers but also for footwear and leathergoods. To answer demand TFL, one of the leading companies for ‘free of chrome’ technology, have launched Sellatan CFX liq.

The new Colomer Moda sheepskin tannery and fellmongery currently under construction in Henan province, China is near completion of the first phase. Part one of the tannery building will be ready to begin operating in December with a daily production capacity of 15,000 pieces.

At the beginning of October, a test run was successfully completed at ISA Tan Tec’s new eco-tannery in the Vietnamese city of Saigon. Everything is working according to plan, says founder and managing director Tom Schneider:

Tanning Tech, the tanning equipment and chemical technology show, was a shadow of its former self as it took place alongside Lineapelle and Simac (the footwear machinery show) in Bologna, October 13-15.

The leading European exhibition for the tanning industry, Lineapelle has been busy after a quiet start on October 13. The trend selection area located at the centre of the show located in the outskirts of the Italian town of Bologna. A total of 788 Italian and 347 foreign exhibitors which includes 577 tanneries is highlighting leathers for the autumn/winter 2010/11 season.

Giulio Tandura has sold his stake in the Italian machinery maker Linta to Gemata to become the new director of Carlessi Srl. The new company was unveiled on their stand at Tanning Tech held in Bologna, Italy on October 13.

According to a number of reports Italian police have arrested a number of tanners in the Arzignano region of Italy relating to VAT tax evasion. The police operation which has been underway in the region for the past six or seven months are investigating around 120 Italian tanneries in total.

BLC have announced that there has been a management buy out (MBO) of BLC Leather Technology Centre Ltd. BLC is a global research, training and testing organisation for the tanning and leather products industries located in Northampton, UK

Following the closure of Italian tannery machinery makers, Fratelli Carlessi earlier this year a new company is being launched at the Tanning Tech exhibition this week. The new enterprise, Carlessi Srl, will be officially unveiled at the new company’s stand on October 13 in Bologna.
The former Carlessi company were most known for their leather through feed toggle drying tunnels and related equipment.

The European Commission is likely to propose a 15-month extension of duties on footwear made in China and Vietnam, European Union diplomats have said, despite broad opposition from major shoe corporations and many European governments.

Rostaing Tannery located in, Huyen Long Thanh, Dong Nai, Vietnam have relaunched their company website: www.rostaingtannery.com.

Dr Mark Wilkinson and Dr Jeffry Guthrie-Strachan of BSLT, University of Northampton, along with other colleagues would like to invite the Corium alumni and friends, to join them next Wednesday, 14 October for early evening drinks from 6pm onwards.

Satra Technology Centre are offering a special deal on the complete set of equipment to test protective gloves to EN 388 standards. This is a cost-effective way for manufacturers to perform the complete set of abrasion, cut, tear and puncture tests at source.

At a signing ceremony in Sao Paulo, Brazil on October 5, four of the world’s largest beef and leather companies agreed to ban the purchase of cattle from newly deforested land in the Amazon. The four, which includes Marfrig, Bertin, JBS-Friboi and Minerva – are some of the largest meat and leather processors in the world.

Following the purchase of 51% ($49.5 million) of Zenda Leather by large Brazilian beef processor, Marfrig, in September more detail has emerged as how the company will operate. For customers of Zenda Leather, which has tanneries in Uruguay, South Africa and Argentina, they should see little or no difference in the senior management or day to day operations a source told Leather International.

The next council meeting of the ICT (International Council of Tanners) will be held on November 12, in Istanbul, at the invitation of the Turkish Leather Association.

Following reports in the press in Asia (South China Morning Post (SCMP), September 29) Shanghai Richina Leather (SRL) have said that they will work with local residents following complaints of foul odours in the area close to their tannery in Shanghai.

Natuzzi, Italy’s largest furniture company and a world leader in leather upholstery are celebrating their 50th anniversary with an exhibition exploring the use of leather. Currently taking place at their flagship store on Finchley Road, London as part of the London Design Festival, the exhibition sees the brand collaborate with five London based artists for the first time.