The ‘Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata al Vegetale’ consortium brought their marketing campaign to London recently. The event, held at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, comprised a press conference and colour trends sessions for London-based designers. The aim of the event was to highlight the flexibility of the association’s 27 member tanneries and their ability to adapt production to the seasonal whims of the fashion industry.
Over 100 designers were present to view displays including swatches of the latest designs for the autumn/winter season 2007/08 and rugs crafted from veg-tanned leather. Among the items on show were camel and llama as well as bovine skins.
Over the last year, the consortium have also taken the event to Paris and major Italian cities.
The association have been seeking to ‘educate’ designers not to look for ‘perfection and uniformity’ offered by synthetics but celebrate the originality offered by vegetable tanned leather. The focus on design has meant that a wide variety of luxury goods companies are using the consortium’s leather in their products. Workshops were held recently in Italy for finished product sales people to make outlets aware of the advantages of vegetable tanned leather.
The association also report a positive response from the many visitors to their stand at the latest edition of Lineapelle, particularly those looking to source small volumes of specialised orders.
