Industry representative body COTANCE held its general assembly for 2023 in Igualada on June 12, hosted by Spanish national association, ACEXPIEL, writes Leatherbiz.

Delegates from Italy, France, Germany, the UK travelled to Catalonia to join colleagues from all parts of Spain to review COTANCE activities in the past year.

Topics under discussion included deforestation, REACH restrictions, the outlook for leather demand and the unfortunate lack of focus on leather in a wider textiles industry strategy that the European Union has published.

At the Igualada meeting, COTANCE members drew up a formal position statement document to “address the shortcomings” in the strategy, following the publication of European Parliament report in May.

There were also presentations on the public perception of leather, with Gustavo Defeo, founder of Ars Tinctoria , and Andrea Bertaglio, author of a new book called ‘In Defence of Leather’, as the speakers.

After the meeting, the current president of COTANCE, Manuel Ríos, said: “Tanning is a necessary industrial sector and we tanners have to continue to be active with promotional campaigns to educate consumers about leather and its environmental and sustainable value.”

But he said European tanners were “resilient small and medium-sized companies” with the strength and creativity to overcome current adversities.