UNIC takes action, but not against Volvo directly
Italy’s national tanning industry body UNIC has confirmed that it has had recourse to Italy’s 2019 law for the protection of leather’s identity in the aftermath of Volvo’s decision to stop using leather. However, its action was not against the Swedish car company itself.
Following the Lineapelle exhibition in Milan in September, rumours spread among leather industry professionals that UNIC was preparing to warn Volvo of possible legal action. This was in the wake of the automotive company’s announcement a few weeks earlier that it will stop using leather in its car interiors by 2030. Head of UNIC’s operations for the important Veneto region, Giacomo Zorzi, has told tanners there that these rumours are unfounded.
In comments Mr Zorzi made to the Arzignano-based Distretto Veneto della Pelle, he explained that what UNIC had done was to warn a publishing company in Italy that its reporting of the Volvo announcement was in contravention of the 2019 law.
Online publication Everyeye reacted to Volvo’s news by describing the materials the company will use in its vehicle interiors in future as “vegan leather”. Mr Zorzi said UNIC had taken swift action to warn Everyeye that using the term ‘leather’ to describe non-leather materials flouts the 2019 law. He said the publication had responded by changing its text.
According to Mr Zorzi Volvo’s messaging about its decision did not fall foul of the 2019 law. “Volvo did something that was slightly more subtle,” he told the tanners, “something it would be hard for us to subject to a formal complaint. Its message is that its cars will be 100% electric and 0% leather, suggesting that leather is incompatible with what is environmentally friendly. This isn’t a message we agree with, but this is Volvo’s choice.”
