New tannery owners take open-house approach
19/05/2017
The Radermecker family set the business up in 1870 and ran it until 2016, when, in his late eighties, André-Jean Radermecker decided to sell. The buyers were Loïc Honoré and Nicolas Quintin, entrepreneurs from across the border in France.
Speaking exactly a year since taking over, Mr Honoré has insisted the new management team remains fully committed to the tannery’s artisan traditions of producing only high-quality, full-grain, vegetable-tanned, bovine leather. However, the facility has become much more consumer-friendly.
Among the innovations Mr Honoré and Mr Quintin have brought in are guided tours for groups of up to 20 people, taking two hours to show off the tannery’s artisan heritage and savoir-faire. The tours take place on the first Wednesday of every month. Radermacker is one of only two tanneries operating in Belgium today; the other is the Tannerie Masure in Estaimbourg, which is partly owned by luxury group LVMH.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, an on-site company shop selling leather and finished leathergoods, is open to the public. A third idea that demonstrates what the new Radermacker management team describes as its commitment to transparency and partnership is called ‘l’Espace Collaboratif’ or ‘Collaborative Space’. Also open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, this idea gives local artisans the opportunity not just to buy Radermacker leather, but to hire the tannery’s cutting equipment.
“We do the cutting for them,” Mr Honoré confirms, “for safety reasons. But the offer is open to independent leather artisans or to small companies of fewer than 10 people. They can select the finished leather they want to use and we will cut it for them to their specifications.”
A specialist in equestrian leather, Radermacker also has a range of buckles, studs and other accessories that customers can buy, allowing them to go home with what Mr Honoré calls “a complete do-it-yourself kit for the bags or other products they want to make”. The tannery is within easy reach of Paris, Lille and Brussels, each of which are home to small-scale leathergoods artisans.
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