CATS against toxicity in shoes

Their statement reads as follows:

Chrome VI in leather has been an important topic for anyone involved in the production or marketing of leather or leather articles, as well as the consumers using these, for a number of years. Under certain conditions, the originally quite harmless chrome III contained in chrome-tanned leather can produce the dangerous chrome VI, also known as chromate. Chrome VI is suspected of being carcinogenic and is a strong allergen. And because leather often comes into very close contact with the skin for extended periods of time, for instance in the case of leather gloves or shoes with leather inners, risks associated with the highly water-soluble chrome VI coming into contact with the skin can initially not be excluded.

The issue was examined from various perspectives within a discussion framework by experts from the sciences, authorities, monitoring authorities, private test laboratories, industry and commerce, as well as the medical and legal professions in May of this year on the premises of the test and research institute PFI Pirmasens eV. In July 2007, the involved parties established the Cooperation for Avoiding Toxic Substances in Shoes (CATS) whose members include well-known shoe manufacturers and trading companies such as Reno, Gabor, Schmenger, LOWA, Däumling, LANXESS, SABU, Bundesverband des Deutschen Schuheinzelhandels, Garant, Sioux, Ricosta, Shoe Fashion Group, BASF, TFL, Wortmann, Deichmann, ANWR, Leder & Schuh AG, C & A, Rieker, Lloyd Shoes, Lederinstitut Gerberschule Reutlingen, Prüf- und Forschungsinstitut Pirmasens.

As a united group representing a manufacturing and procurement volume of many million pairs of shoes, the cooperation is aimed at persuading material manufacturers around the globe to permanently and safely comply with the limit values for harmful substances required in the EU and Germany. The cooperation hopes that the creation of a united front will facilitate an enforcement of the corresponding delivery conditions, particularly in the important leather-supplying countries in Asia as well as Southern and Eastern Europe.

At the behest of CATS, the PFI and the International Shoe Competence Center, Pirmasens, will perform the secretariat, provide a CATS homepage and organise seminars and training events in order to spread the necessary know-how of avoiding harmful substances in shoes to the supplier countries. The first seminar will be held in Guangzhou/China in the beginning of November with an agenda including the topics chrome VI, toxicology, legislation, tolerance values, harmful substance development conditions and prevention methods.

CATS will also be attending the coming shoe fairs such as, for example, the GDS in Düsseldorf, as well as other important shoe and leather fairs around the world, in order to promote its objectives. Nickolaus, the director of the PFI and ISC Pirmasens, expects that the cooperation, given its enormous economic weight, will be able to globally enforce important requirements regarding unpolluted shoe materials, something which each individual operation would not have been able to achieve on its own. In a mid-term perspective, this will provide the businesses with greater assurance concerning the pollution levels of their products, while the consumers will benefit from enhanced product safety.

CATS is an open cooperation and continues to accept further members from the shoe manufacturing and trading, leather manufacturing and chemical industries.

Further information is available from: Caroline Brinkmann, certified engineer, tel: +49 6331 249011 or +49 6331 249030.

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