Launch of Tannery of the Year Awards
23/03/2009
The programme will honour 12 tanneries in six regions between now and March 2010, leading up to a gala dinner at APLF next year at which the accolade of Tannery of the Year will go to the best of the best.
Preparations for the launch have been going on for almost a year.
The Awards idea represents World Trades’ response to the call from the International Leather Forum in Paris in 2007 for companies in every part of the industry to speak up for leather, to celebrate its beauty and usefulness, its history and its future.
The Paris consensus was that the industry has waited for too long to work as one to present arguments in favour of leather, in the face of competition to alternative materials for footwear, furniture, automotive interiors, accessories and clothing. Tanners, their suppliers and their customers have held back, waiting for retailers and the public to realise on their own that leather is wonderful, flexible, natural and sensual, and is made from material that would probably go to waste otherwise.
Remaining quiet about this is no longer an option. Instead, the leather industry has to start shouting from the rooftops about the benefits it brings to the world, and about the huge steps it has taken to address areas of concern.
World Leather’s contribution to this is Tannery of the Year.
With the focus on corporate social responsibility, the programme will identify the two best tanners in six regions around the world: China, the rest of Asia, South America, Central and North America, Africa and Europe. The first of our nominations (focusing on Europe), and the first of our reports into what makes these tanneries shining examples of good practice will appear in the April-May 2009 issue of World Leather.
The idea has already won the backing of APLF and Buckman Laboratories as sponsors, with further names to follow.
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