Amtan and Whiteline announce exotic leather partnership
30/01/2012
Amtan and Whiteline intend to create a joint-venture operation, servicing designers and
luxury brands in Europe and the Americas. Each company will focus on its core competencies: sourcing high-quality skins from Louisiana, Florida and Georgia and processing them to crust on the part of Amtan, and finishing the skins in a wide range of colours and finishes to the exacting demands of high-end fashion houses on the part of Whiteline. They have said the partnership will create “an atmosphere for faster and more efficient skin-to-market execution”.
“Whiteline and Amtan represent the very finest exotic leather atelier-type tannery,” said
Christy Plott Redd, Amtan creative director on making the announcement. “Our commitment to quality, lack of bureaucracy, and flexibility for today’s luxury market enables us to respond to our clients’ needs more expeditiously with service, dependability, and quality. We are excited to
collaborate and integrate our services so that we can become the top supplier of alligator in
the world.”
At the same time, Alberto Panterani, chairman of Santa Croce-based Whiteline, said: “Our partnership will allow our clients to have the resources of a large-scale tannery but the services of a small, family business. Both Whiteline and Amtan were built on foundations of reliable, consistent, and top-notch customer care. Our integration will only strengthen these values and speed our deliveries, while fueling our quality as a global skin leader.”
Later, Christy Plott Redd told leatherbiz that Amtan has sold crust and finished skins, from American alligator, Nile crocodile and Porosus crocodile to luxury brands up till now. But she said the focus now would be on supplying crust to Whiteline and for the Italian tannery to finish the skins to meet luxury brands’ needs more quickly. “The fashion market moves so quickly,” she said, “and we saw a need to be able to respond rapidly to designers’ needs. Many top-tier manufacturers for shoes, leathergoods, and garments are based in Italy and France.” The focus is on making leather for handbags and accessories, garments, belts, and shoes, however, the companies also supply leather to interior design, architectural and other special projects.
Amtan’s tannery and main offices are in Griffin, Georgia, and its raw materials division is located in Saint Martinville, Louisiana. This raw skin division buys alligator skins directly from Louisiana and Florida fishermen, making it the only tannery in the world to do so, Ms Plott Redd continued. It also selects farm-raised alligator from sources in Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida. The tannery currently processes more than 20,000 skins per year with capacity for more.
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