HISTORY
Over a thousand years of tanning tradition
The legacy of Catalan leather, from tradition to European innovation
TRAJECTORY
A legacy that builds the future
The trajectory of the leather sector in Catalonia is the story of a business community that has adapted to every historical era, from the guild organisation of the seventeenth century to today's challenges of sustainability, traceability and innovation.
This collective spirit is what defines Leather Cluster Barcelona today: the natural evolution of a tradition spanning more than a thousand years, demonstrating that working together is the surest guarantee of continuity, quality and leadership.
1693
Ordinacions del Gremi de Blanquers
From its very origins, the history of leather in Catalonia has been shaped by guild culture and a collective spirit. In 1693, the formal drafting of the Ordinacions del Gremi de Blanquers, the ordinances of the Tanners' Guild, marked a turning point by establishing pioneering regulations governing apprenticeship, the rigorous practice of the craft and the first product quality standards. The tanners of the day understood that collective organisation was the only way to guarantee the rigour of their manufacturing, to protect their activity against the fiscal and regulatory changes of the time and to secure the continuity of the craft. Thus was born an artisan culture founded on rigour, attention to detail and a shared vision of excellence that has endured through the centuries.
18th–19th centuries
Pioneering strategic alliances
Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, joint action became the backbone of Igualada's business community, turning cooperative work into a fundamental competitive tool long before the modern concept of the 'cluster' existed in the global economy. The industry's entrepreneurs devised practical and effective mechanisms of collaboration to strengthen the sector: from the collective purchase of raw materials to increase their bargaining power, to coordinated legal defence against regulations and taxes, as well as the shared management of infrastructure and the regulation of water use. From the very outset, pooling efforts became the territory's great strategic model of competitiveness.
1913–1917
Industrial cooperatives and resource optimisation
In the early twentieth century, Igualada's tanning industry took a decisive step towards modernisation by promoting pioneering associative initiatives. In a complex and shifting international context, cooperation became the key driver for optimising resources and securing the viability of the factories. During this period, the first industrial cooperatives were jointly established to make use of and add value to the organic by-products of the tanning process, turning them into resources for other secondary industries. This pioneering vision of efficiency and full use of materials marked the beginning of responsible resource management and demonstrated the sector's capacity to anticipate change.
1949–1958
Driving elite technical education
In the mid-twentieth century, the sector underwent a profound transformation of its business and product model. A collective strategy enabled a gradual and successful transition from a range focused almost exclusively on sole leather towards a more diversified and flexible industry of high added value, aligned with the new demands of contemporary fashion and design. To lead this technological and scientific leap, the business community made a major collective effort to found the Escola de Teneria. The creation of this centre of higher education was a fundamental milestone in the modernisation of the sector, providing tanneries with elite engineers, scientists and technicians capable of taking Catalan leather to the most exacting international standards.
1970s–1980s
Internationalisation and sector promotion
With production firmly established to the highest quality standards, business cooperation turned its attention to foreign trade strategy. The collective spirit of Igualada's companies provided the leverage needed to open the doors of global markets on a large scale. Catalan tanneries committed to a unified, joint presence at the world's most prestigious international trade fairs, creating coordinated export structures and robust commercial networks. At the same time, sector-wide promotional campaigns were undertaken to consolidate the prestige of Catalan leather in global markets, positioning genuine leather as a noble, long-lasting product of 100% natural origin and clearly distinguishing it from the new synthetic substitutes then emerging.
1975–1990
The beginning of environmental transformation
From the 1970s onwards, the leather industry faced the challenge of environmental sustainability. Rather than opting for individual, fragmented solutions, which would have been technically unfeasible, the sector looked ahead and designed the first coordinated measures to address the challenges of urban sanitation and the impact of economic activity. The business community committed firmly to a model of shared responsibility, investing in cleaner technologies and applying solutions directly at source. This era saw groundbreaking projects such as collective systems for recovering organic hair and the advanced reuse of chromium in tanning baths, practical achievements that transformed the sector's environmental awareness.
1994
Vision and birth of the cluster model
In the mid-1990s, the sector underwent a profound strategic evolution. Companies, research centres and institutions formally recognised that their historical trajectory and their way of collaborating corresponded precisely to the characteristics of a 'cluster': an organised structure of cooperation aimed at gaining global competitiveness. In 1994 this structure was formalised, opening a new chapter in which the collective culture was strengthened through long-term shared projects. Collaboration moved beyond the commercial sphere to become an interconnected alliance in applied research, knowledge transfer between universities and industry, and proactive adaptation to future regulations. Transforming tradition into a modern cluster did not break with the legacy; rather, it allowed that legacy to evolve with a common purpose.
1999–2005
Creation of IDR: joint management of wastewater treatment
The creation of the Societat Igualadina de Depuració i Recuperació (IDR) in the late 1990s, followed by the commissioning of its own biological wastewater treatment plant, was a defining moment in European industrial history. The private sector directly and jointly assumed full responsibility for the collective treatment of its wastewater. This large-scale collective project required unprecedented financial investment and organisational effort from the member companies. The construction of this internationally recognised benchmark facility demonstrated the genuine commitment of the Catalan tanning community to managing the water cycle with the utmost transparency, rigour and operational excellence, consolidating the sector's environmental leadership.
2003–2012
Regulatory leadership and clean technologies
During the first decade of the 2000s, the commitment to shared management and continuous improvement translated into outstanding technical dialogue and rigorous negotiation with the various public authorities. The cluster played a very active role in drafting the demanding European best available techniques reference documents (IPPC), working directly with the authorities in Brussels. This high-level involvement allowed the cluster's companies to stay ahead of the curve and progressively implement highly efficient and sustainable systems and processes. This sustained modernisation effort consolidated an industrial model that is resilient to regulatory change and highly attractive to international luxury brands seeking the most trustworthy industrial partners.
2017
Innovation and advanced waste management
In 2017, the cluster's collective environmental management model took a further leap forward in its infrastructure engineering. IDR's wastewater treatment plant upgraded its operating system and extended its authorised remit to become a comprehensive manager of industrial liquid waste. This technological innovation has decisively optimised the operational efficiency and economic sustainability of the cluster's entire ecosystem. By centralising processes and constantly seeking new ways to recover value from materials, industrial costs are being reduced and measurable, rigorous progress is being made towards energy optimisation and the fullest possible use of resources.