Silvateam, a world leader in the production and sales of vegetal extracts and chemicals for leather tanning, presented the 'Leather of the Year' competition winners with their prizes during Simac Tanning Tech 2017 in Milan.

The competition was launched within the Italian multinaitonal to promote the design of innovative leathers for final articles such as shoes, upholstery, planes and car interiors, leather goods and garments.

The first and second prizes went to Mauro Ciaponi and Andrea Puccini (technical sales assistants at Santa Croce tanning district in Tuscany) respectively. In third place was Eric Poles, sales director at Silvateam headquarters in San Michele Mondovi (northern Italy).

“The award wants to answer today’s call from the leather industry to speak up for leather, to celebrate its beauty and perfume, its evolution over the time and the unique individual emotions which arise from its use," explains Alessandro Battaglia, President and CEO at Silvateam.

The leathers were evaluated by an independent judging panel according to a broad set of marketing and technical criteria, ranging from innovation to sustaainability, from versatility to usability, from beauty to comfort.