Another difficult year for leather, but districts of excellence attract investment
Among the stands at Lineapelle there are still complexities and uncertainties. Nevertheless, despite 30 months of crisis, the Tuscan tanning district is attracting the attention and capital of those seeking top-level, cutting-edge manufacturing and sustainability
The suffering of the Italian tanning industry, world leader in quality and innovation, continues, penalised above all by the contraction in volumes of shoes and bags implemented by the big fashion brands. The tanneries are currently exhibiting their new collections at the international Lineapelle show (at FieraMilano-Rho until 13 February, 848 exhibitors from 33 countries, including 430 tanneries) in the hope of catching those signs of recovery that, for months now, seem to have been appearing only to dissolve again.
The year 2025 also closed with a downturn: estimates by Unic, the National Union of the Tanning Industry, indicate -3.6% production, -5% turnover and -6% exports. The contraction follows a 2024 closed with Euro 4.1 billion in revenues (-4.5%) of which Euro 2.8 billion in exports (-3.6%).
Now the magic word is 'restart'. "2026 will be less worse than 2025, but we are still in the negative," explained Fabrizio Nuti, president of Unic and shareholder of the Nuti Ivo group, one of the most important names in the tanning district of Santa Croce sull'Arno (Pisa), controlled by the French luxury giant Lvmh. The other major French luxury group, Kering, has also shopped in Tuscany on several occasions (in November 2024 Gucci acquired 100% of the Colonna group, which controls Marbella Pellami, Conceria 800 and Falco Pellami), but now the restructuring announced by CEO Luca de Meo to revive the accounts is worrying, and not a little, even the tanners. "The fair opens in a difficult context," says Fulvia Bacchi, ceo of Lineapelle.
There is some (small) positive element in any case, such as the return of leather clothing - the only item with a 'plus' sign in the 2025 export of men's fashion - which was seen in abundance in the fashion shows at the beginning of the year.
But above all, there is the attractiveness for investment that, despite 30 months of crisis, the Santa Croce tanning district continues to exert. The latest two operations are the birth ex-novo of the SanPietro tannery led by brothers Matteo and Giacomo Montanelli, 32 and 37 years old, the third generation of a family of tanners, which started out with the aim of producing calfskins for fashion companies that make 'true' luxury, the very high-end; and the 30 million euro investment launched by Chanel with the Volpi and Campelli families, united in the Volfoni joint venture, to triple production in San Miniato (Pisa) and build a biodigester to dispose of by-products.
