Isa TrimTec eyes denim market gains
Tannery group Isa Tan Tec’s trims division was among exhibitors at denim fair Bluezone in Munich, promoting leather’s sustainability credentials to fashion customers with a traceability story from hide to label.
By sourcing hides from certain farms and meat processing plants, then manufacturing the leather using its LITE (low impact to the environment) tanning process and cutting the labels in a group-owned facility, it can offer control over the process, it said.
Roman Krivchenkov, sales director for Isa Trim Tec/Cut Tec, told leatherbiz.com: “We are bringing the sustainable qualities of leather to the apparel world; we use solar panels for the factories and collect rainwater to use in the manufacturing. We have Leather Working Group accreditation which helps us show how many litres of water and how much electricity per 100 labels can be saved.”
Isa Tan Tec branched into label making six years ago and works with brands such as G-Star. It operates tanneries in Italy, China and Vietnam.
“Some other companies try to promote ‘vegan leather’ which is obviously misleading,” added Mr Krivchenkov. “We promote how real leather is one of the most sustainable materials you can use. Denim brands mainly focus on the sustainable credentials of the fabric, as obviously the leather is a smaller percentage of the garment, but business is growing for us.”
He added that companies that use the group’s leather for footwear often extend this to all parts of their collections, including labels.
