The company, based in the Arzignano tanning district, keeps on growing in all areas. The choices on sustainability made long ago are paying off
The year 2022 represented another turning point for GSC GROUP of Montebello Vicentino, a leader in the development and manufacture of chemical products for various segments of the tanning industry, including retanning, fatliquoring and finishing. Diego Cisco, Export Sales Director, interviewed at Eurocongress in Vicenza, which was followed by their presence as exhibitors at Tanning Tech in Milan, explains, “In recent years we have structured ourselves, to make an even greater leap in quality. Covid has slowed down the economy at all levels, but the positive aspect is that it has given us more time to study and invest in Research & Development, which in our company currently accounts for more than 30 percent of the staff hired, with an average age of 31. The CEO of the company, Adriano Serafini, is also only 41 years old and is the son of Donato, founder in 1976 and current honorary chairman, who has always remained at the helm of the family. At the headquarters we are now more than 200 people, exporting to more than 50 countries on all continents to about 450 customers. The annual production of about 35 thousand tons of chemicals is equally distributed between wet and finishing, to customers we guarantee maximum assistance.”
“The strategy has been to grow at all levels,” Mr. Cisco continues, “involving all components. In the last period the lack of raw materials has weighed heavily, but we are well structured and this has allowed us to please the clients anyway: we have made great investments and sacrifices in this direction, for example, equipping ourselves with a well-stocked warehouse, even when it cost more to have it and to produce at any cost, while guaranteeing the highest levels of control and quality. We have found important clients in the world market, but by choice and history, we remain a family business, flexible and customizing a lot, as well as tied to the territory. There is a great passion at GSC GROUP that I don’t see everywhere in our world.”
With the Sales Director, we analyzed the situation in the markets. “Until a few years ago, but still today if we see the numbers, the top was Asia and China, but there they are almost at a standstill and we don’t know if, with the current gas and energy costs, we are still competitive for them, especially on the lower end product lines. Looking forward we are analyzing other macro areas, including North Africa, but other satisfaction is coming from several European countries. As for America, historically we are more present in Central and South America, where during 2022 there has been growth in the footwear sector.”
Sustainability remains the ace up the sleeve of the Vicenza industry. “It’s part of our way of being a company, our players are asking us for it, so it is the right path. In the tanning industry, we were the first in Italy to have the C02 label that you use if you are part of the platform called Carbon Foot Print Italy: we have been there for years, before anyone else. At Eurocongress in Vicenza one of our valued managers, Riccardo Pasquale, presented from the stage an innovative and important study focused on Bio-based, comparing all tanning systems in percentage to the biological basis of the process, with the “pros” and “cons.” At the technological level we are already far ahead, this is definitely the future, there is the question of whether the customer or those to follow accept the trade-off related to high quality but also higher cost. We have an innovative process and products to make metal-free leathers, a new series of metal-free pigments, and soon we will present other innovations that I dare say are revolutionary and sustainable for our industry.”
Diego Cisco and the Arcadi family, GSC GROUP’s agents in Mexico
