The Gremi de Blanquers d'Igualada reaffirms its commitment to Leather Cluster Barcelona at its general assembly

The members of the Gremi de Blanquers d'Igualada have unanimously reaffirmed their commitment to Leather Cluster Barcelona, highlighting the cluster as a meeting point at which to seek joint solutions to the challenges of the leather sector, activating transformative projects that broaden the strategic vision of the companies that form part of it.

The assembly of the Guild, founded in 1693 and made up of the 28 tanning companies of Igualada, was attended by Jordi Vidal, executive director of Leather Cluster Barcelona, who underlined the value that belonging to the cluster brings to companies and the guidance and leadership of Leather Cluster Barcelona in improving the competitiveness of companies across the value chain of Catalonia's leather industry.

The Gremi de Blanquers d'Igualada is a business association that represents the interests of the tanning companies of Igualada and the seed from which the leather cluster grew.

One of the main attributes of any cluster, cooperation, goes back a long way in Igualada with the Gremi de Blanquers and reached its fullest expression in 2000, with the creation of the company Igualadina de Depuració i Recuperació S.L. (IDR), which built and manages the plant that jointly treats the water of the 28 tanning companies of Igualada, which invested €11,300,000 to bring it into operation.

Thanks to the effort and spirit of collaboration of the Gremi de Blanquers and the impetus of the Igualada European Capital of Quality Leather project, led by the City Council, Igualada has succeeded in creating an ecosystem of business, educational, scientific and environmental cooperation around the leather industry, which has attracted Catalan tanning companies and other representatives of the industry's value chain to form Leather Cluster Barcelona.

Igualada, which has always played a key role in the development of the tanning industry in Catalonia, in Spain and in Europe, sitting on the boards of national and international associations, has since 2018 been the capital of Leather Cluster Barcelona. The Catalan leather cluster, with its headquarters at Adoberia Bella, the European Centre for the Interpretation of Quality Leather, is an environment in which to generate new business opportunities and connect with other companies and stakeholders in the leather sector's value chain.

Transformative projects within the framework of the circular economy and innovation

In a sector such as leather, which is in constant transformation and faces new challenges, the cluster's objective is to be a driving and transformative agent for the development of new business opportunities through competitive cooperation across the entire value chain, on the basis of its corporate values: sustainability, circular economy and research and innovation, values that are embedded in the cluster's management and guide its actions.

Jordi Vidal also gave a summary of the activities carried out by the cluster over the past two years, as well as an explanation of the main future projects on which Leather Cluster Barcelona is already working.

Two of the projects presented, ReCircula and ReGenera, demonstrate Leather Cluster Barcelona's commitment to the sustainable use of natural resources (water recirculation) and pursue excellence in valorisation in order to transform waste and organic resources into high-value-added products.

The other, the vision and artificial intelligence project, with innovation as its focus, aims to study the technical feasibility of a vision and artificial intelligence system for the automatic sorting of hides, a technological solution that should enable companies to become more competitive by reducing their costs and improving their productivity.

ReGenera and the vision and artificial intelligence project have received funding from ACCIÓ (Ministry of Enterprise and Knowledge), within the framework of the competitive strengthening grants for the entities that make up the Catalonia Clusters Programme 2021-2023.

The assembly was also attended by Miquel Vives, councillor for Sustainability and Mobility of Igualada City Council, who presented the Ronda Sud link. With an investment of 13 million euros, a new bridge will allow vehicle access to the Ronda del Rec and pedestrian and cycle crossing to the south bank of the river Anoia, balancing vehicle traffic flows at the entrances to and exits from the city.

About Leather Cluster Barcelona

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation 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 entity within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.

Committed to sustainable fashion, the circular economy and shared value, Leather Cluster Barcelona brings together 55 companies and stakeholders with an aggregate turnover of more than 550 million euros, employing some 1,800 workers, from livestock farming and the food industry, tanneries, universities and research, through to chemistry, sustainability, design, leather manufacturing and fashion.