Leather Naturally has support for 40% of first-year funding
10/12/2018
At a presentation during the All China Leather Exhibition in Shanghai in August, Leather Naturally said it had plans in place to carry out the work and would start to implement them as soon as it could secure the money to fund the programme.
In a statement at the start of December, it said support was in place to provide 40% of the money needed but said it still needed industry support to reach the total it needs for the first year, which it put at $1.5 million. Leather Naturally hopes to run the campaign for five years and has said its objective is to promote leather and stimulate increased consumption of products made from leather, especially among consumers from the Millennial and Generation Z and demographic groups.
One supporter, Hans van Haarst, chief executive of leather chemicals manufacturer Smit & Zoon, has said he is convinced that cooperation in the leather value chain is needed “to make it sustainable from an economic, environmental and social perspective”. He said the Leather Naturally campaign can make “a significant contribution” to this.
Mr van Haarst said Smit & Zoon will fund $50,000 of the total the campaign needs. He encouraged other companies to contribute too and said he believes the campaing will bring “a high return” for the industry.
For his part, Andreas Kindermann, chief executive of Wollsdorf Leather and current president of COTANCE, the leather industry’s representative body in the European Union, said he supports the idea of aiming the campaign especially at younger consumers. He explained: “They are the customers of the future and our industry needs new ways of communication to reach out to them. This collaborative approach supports our industry, making leather the perfect material for the next generation by providing clear information and counteracting fake news.”
In November, the leather industry’s Global Leather Coordinating Committee (GLCC) agreed to support the Leather Naturally initiative and to encourage their members “to support the project financially where appropriate”.
Three associations make up the GLCC: the International Council of Tanners (ICT), International Council of Hides, Skins and leather Traders Associations (ICHSLTA) and the International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies (IULTCS).
Share this story:
