Great success for the session on the biodegradability of leather organised by Leather Cluster Barcelona

On Monday 28 February at 4 p.m., the cluster organised a round table on the biodegradability of leather at the Adoberia Bella.

The session generated great interest within the leather industry, bringing together more than 40 people. The event was opened by Jordi Vidal, executive director of Leather Cluster Barcelona, who thanked those attending for their presence and the speakers for their participation in reflecting on one of the leather sector’s major current issues.

Before the round table began, and by way of introduction, Vidal explained the project that the brand Puma will carry out in Germany next May. Puma will test its biodegradable trainers with 500 people. They are expected to wear the trainers for six months and then return them to Puma, which will test their biodegradability in the controlled environment of an industrial composting facility.

The speakers then presented various projects and initiatives aimed at broadening knowledge about the biodegradability of leather and at assessing how biodegradable and compostable leather is compared with other materials.

The round table was made up of:

• Anna Bacardit of A3 Leather Innovation Center
• Olga Ballús of Cromogenia
• Salvador Esquerra of Quimser
• Jordi Escabros of Trumpler
• Michael Costello of Stahl

During the speakers’ contributions, topics addressed included the definitions of biodegradability and compostability, the conditions and requirements leather must meet in order to be perfectly compostable, the importance of time as a key parameter when discussing biodegradability, and the differences in biodegradability and compostability between natural leather and treated leather.

The presentation of various business experiences relating to biodegradability also prompted reflection from the point of view of consumer motivations when making purchases: are buyers only looking for durability?

The session ended with an open debate among those attending, which underlined the importance of the cluster being able to lead and drive a project on the biodegradability of leather with various companies and players from the leather industry value chain. A project that can provide information and value in order to establish, with scientific rigour, under what conditions and within what timeframes the different types of leather are biodegradable and compostable, and what comparative differences there are in terms of biodegradability between leather and synthetic and new materials.

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 body within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.