MILAN — As the financial challenges mount, luxurious leather provide chain companies are forging new collaborations, enhancing the sector with scientific and technological options.
Working collectively to search out additional synergies between technology and supplies was emphasised as the one technique to endure the advanced financial system mired by inflationary, trade and foreign money pressures, leaders stated on the Lineapelle exhibition, which befell at Rho-Fiera Milano fairgrounds Sept. 23 to 25. Organizers of Italy’s leather-based trade show expressed warning for the remainder of the yr, after the sector noticed a 6 % decline within the variety of firms in 2024.
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“These [companies that went out of business] were mostly subcontractors, who are certainly the most vulnerable. There have also been voluntary closures due to profitability that has become increasingly reduced — or, in some cases, costs that have exceeded revenue,” stated Fulvia Bacchi, Lineapelle’s chief government officer.
The three-day occasion amped up its tech enchantment by means of a sequence of initiatives and discussions, culminating in occasions like AI Materiality and different talks offering an in-depth, 360-degree exploration of the affect of synthetic intelligence instruments on the style business.
Mauro Bergozza, president of Simac Tanning Tech, Italy’s consortium for equipment and expertise for the footwear, leather-based items and tanning industries, underscored the significance of collaboration.
“The synergy between Simac Tanning Tech and Lineapelle and between technology and materials represents a virtuous model for the entire Made in Italy sector. Collaborating allows us to strengthen our leadership and look to the future with confidence, promoting a supply-chain system vision that goes beyond the individual supply chain and markets,” he stated in a press release.
Lineapelle gathered a world community of firms throughout the leather-based provide chain. About 1,150 equipment, elements, materials, artificial and mannequin companies from 109 international locations offered their fall 2026 collections on the truthful, which stays a world reference for luxurious hides. The variety of guests to the truthful fell, nonetheless, to 21,433 from 23,800 recorded in September 2024 and 24,977 in February 2025.
Nutley, N.J.-based Modern Meadow featured prominently, and demonstrated how the worlds of science and vogue are evolving. Testament to this was its Bio-Vera materials made utilizing a mix of plant-based proteins, biopolymers and post-consumer waste that emulate the look and really feel of luxurious leather-based.
Its CEO is David Williamson, a Ph.D. who has a background in materials science and biotechnology, and has expertise within the cosmetics business. The agency, which was began in 2015, initially started experimenting with collagen, however later discovered that the manufacturing prices have been too excessive. Working with plant-based supplies rendered Bio-Vera a viable various to leather-based.
“We like to work with tanneries with value but we don’t want to price so high we exclude consumers,” Williams stated on the truthful. “Our goal is to create a material to help tanneries win in the marketplace.”
Modern Meadow stated it has the functionality to commercially produce greater than 500,000 sq. meters a yr of this materials, simplifying current provide chain points and shortening current manufacturing processes, permitting designers and leather-based specialists to provide bespoke supplies for merchandise throughout the furnishings, automotive, attire and vogue equipment industries.
During the primary 9 months of 2025, Italian tanneries have been struck by inflation, rising vitality prices and the weakening U.S. greenback in opposition to the euro. Production declined 4 % and exports dipped 3.5 %, Bacchi informed WWD.
“Currently, there are no signs on the horizon suggesting a short-term change in this trend,” she stated, including that revenues generated from the leather goods provide chain reached 4.1 billion euros in 2024, which is in keeping with revenues from final yr. Inflation will undoubtedly affect analysis and growth throughout the board, Bacchi warned.
According to Eurostat, these challenges echo past the leather-based sector. European footwear manufacturing dropped by 6 % within the first half of the yr in comparison with the identical interval in 2024, whereas manufacturing of leather-based items declined by as a lot as 10 %. Italy’s prime 20 commerce companions for leather-based embrace the U.S., which noticed exports fall 11 % in 2024 and China, which plunged 29 %.
Tolentino, Italy-based Conceria del Chienti stated it’s at present invested in attractive new purchasers by means of its waste-reduction measures which have the potential to streamline the manufacturing course of, by promoting leather-based measured in sq. meters. The firm positions itself as the primary strategic companion able to supplying leather-based already minimize into elements, able to go straight into manufacturing.
Amid troublesome financial occasions, Conceria del Chienti’s CEO Marco Lupa stated it’s crucial to showcase improvements that may propel the sector ahead.
“In a market demanding flexibility, efficiency and a concrete approach to sustainability, we have chosen not just to innovate the process, but to transform the business model. Offering finished components means becoming a technological partner for our clients, sharing the risk and working together to optimize the entire supply chain,” he stated.
OBI Officina, a Florence-based agency, which produces high-quality, unique equipment for the business and processes beneficial supplies resembling gold, bronze and silver, is one such firm included within the wave of consolidation taking up the sector.
In 2023, it joined vogue equipment agency Altofare, which posted aggregated income of about 150 million euros final yr. Boosted by the acquisition, OBI Officina will make 700,000 euros in investments to digitally improve its artisanal enterprise within the close to time period, CEO Paolo Calamandrei stated.
“At the moment, the company is providing significant support to luxury brands in prototyping. The numerous changes in designers and the market uncertainty are driving brands to rely on the most advanced laboratories to explore new product solutions,” he stated.
MinervaHub, which was established in 2022 to guard and help Italian producers within the nation’s provide chain, is dwelling to 25 firms, amongst them tanneries like Pisa-based Conceria Zuma Pelli Pregiate, bijoux for vogue agency Deadema and hi-tech heel producer LTM.
At Lineapelle, LTM showcased a brand new computerized knowledge system and equipment that measures the lifetime of a heel. “This shoe has walked 9,238,880 steps, which is 4,600 kilometers, which means it has a lifespan of 20 years,” defined LTM’s CEO Federico Lombardi, who has levels in each digital engineering and mechanical engineering.
“You buy a pair of [Christian] Louboutins today, you use them for 20 years, you treat them perfectly, you treat the leather, you resole it, you can give it to your granddaughter, you can use it for your whole life because it has no end,” he stated, underscoring the parallel between sturdiness and sustainability.
Looking forward, MinervaHub’s CEO Alessandro Corso, previously chief monetary officer of Salvatore Ferragamo, stated the corporate’s success is intrinsically tied to sharing know-how and values.
“We’ve become an industrial group and that means sharing values, sharing ideas, sharing projects, innovation, and a way of interacting with the customer. So, we’re not just the sum of many entities; we want to be the product of many entities,” he informed WWD on the truthful.
In phrases of traits, embellished hides, layered with sudden supplies and studs, have been paramount.
MinervaHub inventive director Jacopo Tonelli, for instance, stated he took technical elements of the hub’s core companies to provide one thing completely new this season.
“We developed a free-climbing ballet flat, embroidered with lace to transition it into an evening shoe, blending technical sportswear with the elegance of hand embroidery. All our products are fully designed and developed within Minerva,” he emphasised.
The Winter Edition of the Lineapelle commerce present will happen Feb. 11 to 13.
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