The leather offering at this year’s Première Vision was an improvement compared with the last summer edition on the west side of Manhattan. It is still just a small cluster of tanneries compared with textiles, accessories and manufacturing, which dominate the halls, but there was enough activity to show that leather also has a real home there.

Emelda Fur Tannery from Turkey, Walter Reginald from the UK, and France’s Ets Azais et Cie and Tannerie Sovos Grosjean formed a strong contingent, but the consensus was that day one of the fair was better attended than day two, since that coincided with day one of Lineapelle across town. Emelda’s Tamer Savcilioglu wasn’t too bothered though.

“We have our customers here, so they know where to find us,” he said. “There is too much competition over there at Lineapelle. We are alone here.”

Smart thinking

However, there were other, more pressing concerns for Savcilioglu, including the shrinking US market and the fact that Barney’s, the barometer of public demand for luxury in the US, is edging towards bankruptcy. Calvin Klein is also reputedly in trouble, but all of this certainly didn’t stop Devon Leahy, VP of sustainability at Ralph Lauren, from presenting her Smart Talk called ‘Design the Change: Ralph Lauren’s Renewed Strategy on Global Citizenship and Sustainability’.

Leahy, who heads Ralph Lauren’s product and environmental sustainability strategy, spoke about the recent launch of ‘Design the Change’, a renewed commitment to accelerating the company’s work across citizenship and sustainability, focusing on creating timeless style, protecting the environment and championing better lives.

Ralph Lauren has also signed on to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), joining other companies across industries to implement sustainability principles and take steps to support UN goals.

Another Smart Talk featured Francois Souchet, project manager at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, who talked about ‘Make Fashion Circular’, an initiative bringing together key industry stakeholders to create a circular economy for clothing of all stripes – and materials – including leather. Première Vision sustainability consultant Giusy Bettoni also joined this talk. Launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in May 2018, the ‘Make Fashion Circular’ initiative is leading international efforts to establish a circular economy for fashion, where business models increase the use of clothes, ensure clothes are made from safe and renewable materials, and old clothes are used to make new ones. The initiative drives collaboration between industry leaders and other key stakeholders to create a materials economy fit for 21st-century sensibilities and urgent realities, with a goal to ensure clothes are kept at their highest value and designed from the outset to never end up as waste.

Positive change

Launched in 2000, Première Vision New York has found a home at Pier 94. However, in January 2020 it will move to Center 415 in the heart of Manhattan’s garment district, straight down from the Empire State building. This will enable greater growth for the show, not to mention better transport links. However, between now and January, aside from the weather, change is sure to happen in terms of market fluctuations, trends and geopolitical curveballs – but leather, true to its nature, will be resilient.