Italian leathergoods firms at risk, Assopellettieri warns
The president of Italy’s main leathergoods manufacturers’ association has said the sector remains one of the hardest hit by the effects of covid-19.
In recent comments to media in Italy, Assopellettieri president, Franco Gabbrielli, said Italy’s leathergoods producers had suffered a fall in revenue of 37% in 2020 compared to the previous year, reaching €7.8 billion.
Mr Gabbrielli said this had wiped out growth that member companies had achieved in 2018 and 2019.
He said exports had declined by more than 25% and called on the Italian government to put measures in place to help leathergoods companies recover export revenues. He warned that a failure to provide this support could leave Italian leathergoods companies at risk of being acquired by overseas firms.
“This would put us at risk of losing our savoir-faire, our traditions, our attention to detail and the taste that have been part of the history of our country,” he said. “These are things that have made Italy famous, respected and imitated all over the world.”
