September, a key month for the world of fashion

Two of the sector’s benchmark fairs are held in Paris and Milan

September marks the start of the new season and is also a key month for the leather industry, with two of the most representative fashion fairs, Première Vision and Lineapelle, taking place in Paris and Milan, two of the world’s fashion capitals. A good number of Leather Cluster Barcelona member companies will exhibit their leather products at these two major events, the finest international showcases for exhibitors, where expert fashion professionals from all over the world gather in search of new products, trends and accessories.

Première Vision Paris is a major fair that brings together the main complementary sectors of the fashion world in terms of offer, know-how and services in Paris, its world capital. The fair has two editions a year: in February, to present the spring-summer collections for the following year, and in September, for the autumn-winter ones. This year the September edition will have a hybrid format, with a digital version from 20 to 24 September and an in-person one from 21 to 23. Lineapelle, held since 1981, is one of the world’s most important international fairs for leather, fashion accessories and components. The September edition will take place from 22 to 24.

These two major global events are a very good opportunity to champion the leather sector as an example of sustainable fashion and to reflect on the current production and consumption system.

Hides are a waste product resulting from the consumption of meat, the main source of protein around the world. The leather industry recovers and recycles this waste from the food sector so that it can be reused as a new raw material. The tanning process gives animal hides a second life and turns them into products that are useful to society.

The leather industry contributes to responsible, sustainable consumption by revaluing a waste product to produce durable consumer goods: a leather article can last a lifetime. In this sense, leather is a durable, timeless material that can be used for many years and is therefore a good that helps reduce consumerism. This stands in contrast to fast fashion, a business model based on creating throwaway products, largely represented by synthetic materials that seek to imitate leather, made from plastic and therefore produced from petroleum-derived compounds, a limited natural resource which, beyond the negative environmental impact of its production process, is expensive and complicated to recycle and has very poor biodegradability.