FILK announce 14th Leather days program
The organisers of Freiberg Leather Days have published the program for the 2026 event, outlining a two-day agenda covering sustainability, regulation and leather processing technologies.
The conference, hosted by the FILK Freiberg Institute together with the VGCT, will take place on July 1–2 in Münster, Germany.
The keynote lecture will be delivered by Professor Thomas Scholten of Eberhard Karls University Tübingen. His presentation, titled “Global and regional nitrogen cycles and their influence on livestock farming”, will examine the environmental role of nitrogen cycles and their implications for livestock production.
The opening session will address sustainability, including a presentation by Deborah Taylor of the Sustainable Leather Foundation on impact assessment, alongside contributions on patented processing methods and isotope analysis for leather origin tracing.
A second session will focus on regulatory and chemical topics, covering EU legislation, biocides and contaminants in chemicals. Presentations will also examine bisphenols in leather, including alternative retanning systems and strategies for safer materials.
On the second day, a dedicated session will address PFAS in the leather industry, with contributions on regulatory frameworks, analytical methods and technical solutions.
Further sessions will explore process innovations such as collagen stabilisation, alternative unhairing technologies and polymeric fatliquors, as well as the conversion of leather waste into functional materials and the performance of finishing systems.
The programme concludes with sessions on digitalisation and traceability, including wireless process monitoring, data integration across the value chain and the use of artificial intelligence in grading and defect detection.
