A delegation from Ubrique visits the leather cluster on the occasion of REC.0

Coinciding with the autumn edition of the REC.0 fashion festival, a delegation from the Cádiz town of Ubrique came to Igualada this November to visit Leather Cluster Barcelona.

During their stay in Igualada, meetings were held to share knowledge between the two clusters and to deepen collaboration in areas ranging from research and innovation to sustainability, the circular economy, training and communication with the end consumer.

Headed by its mayor, José Mario Casillas, the delegation from Ubrique was made up of the town council’s four deputy mayors, José Antonio Bautista, Marian Moreno, Daniel Domínguez and Francisco de Asís; Carmen Moreno and Juan Nuñez, general secretary and vice-president of the CEC (Confederación de Empresarios de Cádiz); Pepe Montiel, president of Asopiel (Asociación de Empresarios de la Piel de Ubrique); and Cristóbal de Piña and Javier Gallego, president and manager of the leather technology centre, Movex.

During the week in Igualada, the Movex Foundation gave classes in leather goods making and design to students at the La Gaspar Municipal School of Art and Design, which this year has launched the new Higher Vocational Training Diploma in Leather Sculptural Techniques.

The Cádiz delegation’s stay had an institutional side and a more business-oriented one. The institutional side included an official reception at Igualada Town Hall as well as a lunch and a fellowship dinner, presided over by the mayor of Igualada, Marc Castells, and the councillors Jordi Marcè and Josep Maria Carpi, as well as by the president and vice-president of the cluster, Bernat Vilarrubias and Xavier Badia.

The business side consisted of visits to a very significant part of the cluster’s leather ecosystem: A3 Leather Innovation Center at the Igualada UdL Campus, the La Gaspar Municipal School of Art and Design, the Cal Granotes museum and the Museu de la Pell d’Igualada, and Adoberia Bella, the cluster’s headquarters, accompanied by Jordi Vidal and Mònica Santamans of Leather Cluster Barcelona.

This year, however, the visit of the Ubrique delegation was more special than ever, with the Movex Foundation and Leather Cluster Barcelona organising a multisensory immersive experience in the form of a “blind leather and wine tasting” with Celler Pla de Morei.

That is not all: before immersing themselves in this fascinating experience, representatives of the leather industry in Ubrique and of the cluster met at a round table to discuss the leather sector.

Under the title “Dialogue on the future challenges of the leather sector. Ubrique and Igualada, two miracle towns”, a debate and discussion took place with the following speakers: Carmen Romero, of the CEC; Cristóbal de Piña and Javier Gallego, of Movex; Josep Sont, vice-president of ASEFMA (Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Marroquineria); and Xavier Badia and Jordi Vidal, of Leather Cluster Barcelona.

The round table generated an interesting dialogue full of inspiration and mutual learning, in which experiences and views were shared on how to bring out the value of the intangible cultural heritage accumulated by the professionals of the two clusters, on the reasons that explain why, after centuries, the leather sector remains one of the engines of growth in Ubrique and Igualada and their areas of influence, and on how to improve the image of leather and its industry in the eyes of consumers.

On this last subject, the leather sector’s communication with public opinion as a whole, the two clusters have arranged to meet soon in order to study synergies and possible collaborations with specific actions and messages that reach society as a whole.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is a competitive cooperation environment for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving forward the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector. The cluster is an accredited body within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.