Ecco celebrates 'world's most complex tannery'
Danish footwear brand Ecco has celebrated the launch of a new tannery at its Xiamen footwear factory in the Chinese province of Fujian.
The company invited more than 250 guests from all continents to travel south to take part in a tour of the facility and a formal banquet on September 6, following the All China Leather Exhibition in Shanghai.
A first batch of wet blue hides is in transit at the moment for production to begin in mid-October. There are plans, and space on the site, to build a raw hide warehouse and beamhouse in future, but all production will be from wet blue to begin with.
In a speech at the event, Ecco’s group tanning director, Panos Mytaros, paid tribute to the project team that had brought the site to its current state in only 11 months. “And now the most complex tannery operation in the world will soon come into production,” he said.
He justified his claim about the Xiamen facility by highlighting its innovative building design, the materials used (including wood on the building’s facade to give a Scandinavian effect), the working environment and conditions for employees, the advanced machinery set-up and the commitment to reducing waste that Ecco has built into the new tannery, which represents the largest single investment the company has ever made.
He said this combined to make the site an attractive place for a new generation of leather technicians to work and learn the business.
A full report on the new set-up will appear in the October issue of World Footwear.
