For the second year in a row at the Fair a set up a plastic model exemplified the method that revolutionizes the way tanning is done: the Vicenza industry produces technologies that are increasingly in demand on the market
Gsc Group continues its challenge in the area of sustainability. For the second year in a row, the industrial company based in Montebello Vicentino (a municipality in the Arzignano leather district), a leader in the development and manufacture of chemical products for different segments of the tanning industry, including tanning, retanning, dyeing and finishing, set up at Simac Tanning Tech, at the Milan fair. The large plastic model that summarizes the innovative technology revolutionizing the way tanning is done by harnessing an Italian resource, a by-product of olive oil production, of which our country is the second largest producer in the world.
“In our stand we displayed the scale model again,” confirms Diego Cisco, Export Sales Director of the Group, “to emphasize the ‘metal free’ technology, which in Italian we have called AVO (Acque di Vegetazione Olearie), and in English OMW (“Olive Mill Wastewater”, i.e., wastewater from olive mills). The project, on which we have been working for over two years alongside other companies, each skilled in its role, and important partners, including companies and prestigious Italian universities, represents our cutting-edge technology. It is currently one of the most sustainable options on the market as an alternative to chrome tanning. The latter remains the most widely used to process leathers, partly because it has a significantly lower cost. It is difficult to make an accurate outline on the level of numbers, but indicatively chrome continues to have more than 65-70% of the market, but everything points to the fact that the path is correct, the future will prove us right. The remaining 30-35 percent is certainly a percentage that will grow, also in light of international regulations that are moving in the direction of increasing environmental protection.”
“In our DNA,” the Export Sales Director continues, “we have always been close to our clients, it was also they who led us to invest over the years in sustainable choices: as happens when doing research, not all projects were successful, but in the end the ‘OMW Leather Technology’, now covered by a patent, is proving to be a winner. Particularly on quality there is no doubt: it is the leathers produced that speak for us, it is not just a commercial message. However, it was not easy, we had to make considerable investments and overcome several complexities, for example in the fine tuning, although we are convinced that now our technology is quite easy and replicable. In the end, a high biodegradability content is evident, as all the ingredients demanded by the market today in order to make sustainable leathers: we proudly consider this an important message, unfortunately the leather world, for various reasons, is suffering from bad publicity of non-sustainable product and ours is an important message.”
Alongside Cisco, at the stand, of note was the presence of Diego Carlotto, who of the Group is responsible for Italy for the wet sector, that is, the most important phase in the development of a product. “The Italian market is responding well to the new Gsc Group technology,” were his words, “over the past 12 months, until September of this year, there has been a strong interest especially from fashion brands: they are the ones who come to us asking for information and news about this technology, which they then go on to propose and communicate to their suppliers, including the tanneries that are already our clients. If until mid-2023 the interest was linked almost exclusively to the automotive sector, which has always been the most sensitive and receptive to such a change in strategy, today it is spreading to high fashion brands that are increasingly making sustainability their strong suit. Meanwhile, the clients of the famous brands, which is us in the end, have also matured, they are becoming more informed, and social media is also helping. In the end it is becoming a mandatory choice to pursue this kind of technology derived from waste and discards. It may not be a very fast process, but the path is now set and there is no going back.”
Diego Carlotto, Italy manager of the wet sector and Diego Cisco, export sales director of the of Gsc Group
