The representative body of the tanning industry in Veneto in north-east Italy, the Distretto Veneto della Pelle, has signed a new agreement with the Vicenza branch of Confartigianato, a national organisation that seeks to promote the work of small and medium artisan enterprises.

They will work together to develop projects aimed specifically at encouraging entrepreneurship among Distretto member companies. Report by Leatherbiz.

In total, there are currently 746 companies in the province of Vicenza involved in the manufacture of leather or finished leather products. Collectively, these companies employ almost 13,000 people.

Of these companies, 308 fall into the artisanal category; these employ a total of 1,881 people at the moment.

Exports of leather and leather products from Vicenza had a value of more than €2.5 billion in 2022, but figures for the first half of this year showed a decline of 8.8%.

Possibly one of the most important aspects of the new partnership is that it will aim to make it easier for companies in the leather industry in Veneto to gain access to funding programmes for new projects.

Confartiganato Vicenza’s president, Gianluca Cavion, said he hoped the new partnership would help a sector that “has experienced profound transformation in recent years”. He said he wanted it to provide companies with tools for improving quality, while retaining what he described as the wealth of experience and skills it already has.

For his part, Distretto president, Riccardo Boschetti, said his organisation was already investing energy in projects aimed at employees, especially young people, with many more in its sights for the future.

He added that it had shared the experience it had gained from this work with Confartiganato and said he hoped the new partnership would “strengthen synergies with Confartigianato” and pave the way for similar initiatives with other trade associations. “I am convinced that strength is measured precisely on the capacity for union,” he said.