TEKNOLEATHER Quality, certifications and services

Quality, sustainability, certifications and services. Around these four words will develop the current year’s efforts of TEKNOLEATHER, working in the international tanning sector, offering cutting-edge solutions, service flexibility, know-how and high-quality chemical products to ensure the best possible performance in all stages of processing. Despite a two-year period characterized by the health pandemic and a stagnant global economy, the company closed 2021 positively, boasting growing figures compared to the previous year. 2022 should also confirm the growth trend that has always occurred since 2013, the year in which TEKNOLEATHER was founded by Santino Mecenero. In recent years, TEKNOLEATHER has benefited from the experience of a dynamic and close-knit team, engaged in the chemical sector since 1980 and which over the course of over four decades has acquired skills and knowledge such as to guarantee high-performance products, high technology and respect for environment.
“For the current year we are confident – confirms Mecenero, whom we met at the headquarters in Tezze di Arzignano, in mid-May – even though we are aware that the economic scenarios are still uncertain. Tthe increase in costs, the limited availability of raw materials, and finally the war in Ukraine: these are elements that could condition the final results. In particular, the conflict certainly does not help… compared to other situations, this time we perceive that they are fighting close to “our home”, with all the problems related to that. Attention also goes to the increase in the cost of transport, in particular those linked to containers, which are difficult to be found.”
What are the main innovations for TEKNOLEATHER in 2022?
“Our idea is to keep on investing as we did in the last two years. Due to Covid-19, we have had more time to devote to the R&D department. We will work even more to guarantee further improvement of our range, focusing on metal-free products and on the limitation of bisphenols in leathers. The word that somehow characterizes our daily commitment is quality, meant as research, certifications and varied offer in terms of new colors and products. All this for us can be summed up in an excellent service that we want to guarantee to customers, whom we have been able to retain over time, through customized and increasingly modern solutions. We will move in this direction also in the coming years.”
Will you use this strategy also internationally?
“Absolutely, indeed, especially in the rest of the world, our pursue of product and service quality will become our calling card. At a time when economic scenarios and the rise in prices will eventually affect the overall situation, Europe and therefore also our country will run the risk of being the most penalized ever. Therefore, the only possibility to emerge is to guarantee added value and quality, just think of the Made in Italy label. In other words, we will have to give more and more importance and promotion not only to our work, but to “how” we do it!
In this context, what are the requests coming from the market?
“The question is above all related to certifications, seen as a guarantee that the company is working according to the most modern regulations, inevitably linked to the traceability of products. We undertook this path almost ten years ago and this commitment guarantees today more than satisfactory results. There is no doubt that the path taken has been drawn, there is no going back and in the future these requests, especially from the big names and high fashion brands, will be increasingly urgent.”
At the end of April, you visited the Dubai fair, revived after a two-year stop, replacing Hong Kong. What was the mood and what indications did you have from the desirable recovery of the global market?
“There is no doubt that in the two-year period 2020-2021 one of the most negative and penalizing notes was the cancellation of international fairs, almost all those in the East, a real issue for a company like ours that also thrives on personal relationships and of loyal customers. In Dubai the most positive aspect was that we all came together after a long time, above all we had the opportunity to discuss the issues of the sector. There have been contacts, but we hope to get better results in the next events, starting with LineaPelle and Tanning Tech at the end of September in Milan.”
You have always worked with foreign countries: which are the geographical areas from which you expect the greatest growth trends?
“The Dubai fair highlighted how India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have restarted strongly, while the ‘big sick man’, namely China, is still out of the games, given that the health pandemic problems, thus remaining an economic powerhouse. So, we just have to wait. We all hope that South American and Central American markets return to a good level, but above all Europe which, with a potential of 500 million inhabitants, will certainly have an impact on the purchases of leather products. We also expect a growth trend from the Italian market: what was produced abroad maybe 3-4 years ago and then imported, now risks not being more convenient due to the increase in transport costs. Hence, chemical products could be in greater demand in Italy.”
How is your commitment to sustainability going on?
“For some years now, attention has grown on these issues, also in light of the increasingly pressing and demanding requests of international brands and haute couture. Then there is the increasingly stringent regulatory aspect: from the January 1st, 2022 further restrictions were added. For us, the choices we made in this direction are not seen only as “obligations”. We are aware of what we have already done and the attention paid to the environment by our company, we are renowned all over the world: it is part of our DNA. It is clear that the “green” policy of a business cannot be changed overnight, for this reason we have an advantage, since we’ve always carried out environmental issues, starting from quality control on all phases, from processes to products. In the post-pandemic era, the world tanning market has focused on three main topics: sustainability, biodegradability and traceability; the latter is particularly important because leather must always have an increasingly identifiable and traceable path. Today, no detail is missed.”

www.teknoleather.com

Santino Mecenero