Exotic skins veteran promises “zero impact” croc leather within a year
03/12/2019
With his brother Alessandro, Mr Dolfi set up the Caravel exotic skins tannery in Tuscany in 1989. The brothers sold a stake in Caravel to luxury brand Gucci in 2001. Then, in 2008, Gucci’s parent group, Kering, acquired 100% of the ownership of Caravel. However, the Dolfi brothers continued to run the tannery, with Andrea as the chief executive and Alessandro as the technical director, until 2015.
Andrea Dolfi launched A&A Pelli Pregiate in 2018 and, in that first year, turned over €13 million. The business imports and exports exotic leather and owns two specialist Tuscan tanneries: Zuma in Castelfranco and Casadacqua in Santa Croce. Also as part of the deal, Xenon acquired an alligator farm in Louisiana, Just Gators. Andrea Dolfi will continue to run the business.
At the time of the announcement, Mr Dolfi said A&A was “an extraordinary operation” that is poised for strong growth. He explained that the Xenon deal would allow the organisation to become “even more competitive” in the world of exotic leather.
He then went on to announce that A&A is preparing to bring to market crocodile leather that is “100% organic”. He explained that this means crocodile leather produced using “a tanning system with zero environmental impact”. He said A&A would be ready to launch this product within a year.
Image: Zuma
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