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Role and mission of Vegetable-Tanned Leather Consortium

The Genuine Italian Vegetable-Tanned Leather Consortium is a no-profit organization with 22 affiliated tanneries, all operating in the Tuscan Leather District and sharing the same standards of production: to update tradition searching a balance between innovation and ancient methods that cannot be replicated in another place.

Tuscany is the land of Renaissance: Tuscany is sweet hills and vineyards, culture and tradition, artists and master craftsmen sharing creativity and genius. Tuscany is the place where the ancient and noble art of the Medieval Guild of Leather Makers is still  kept alive: the art of vegetable-tanning.

Master craftsmen, repositories of centuries of experience, follow with care and passion the slow process of turning raw hides into leather. Vegetable-tanning in Tuscany is an extraordinary productive process, performed by the skilled hands of master tanners, based on the exact mix of vegetable tannins, on the good Tuscan water and on all the time necessary.

The Consortium, in order to safeguard this “excellence” has created the quality trademark “Pelle Conciata al Vegetale in Toscana”, that guarantees the quality of raw materials and processes used in its production.

Tuscan associated tanneries produce leather in accordance to the Technical Production Regulations, stating that the whole productive process in its qualifying phases must be made in Tuscany and fixing strict chemical /physical standards for the leather to be marked Tuscan Vegetable Tanned Leather. The most important requirement is that the production process is realized entirely in Tuscany.

Consortium provides the customers of its associated tanneries with  “guarantee labels”, that are progressively numbered and recorded. The label must be applied to the finished product.

Consumers that will buy accessories with guarantee label will be sure to have purchased a product made with Tuscan high-quality  Leather, tanned with vegetable extracts in compliance with the relevant regulations.

Associated tanneries are subject to external auditor’s control: ICEC  is the institution in charge of verifying compliance with Production Regulations, both for tanning process and for correct use of the consortium trademark in their corporate communication.

Consortium and associated tanneries invest to promote vegetable tanned leather in Italy and all over the world to all the stakeholders, through made-to-measure activities  to meet the needs of each individual target:  visits to tanneries and to traditional artisan bottegas, seminars, exhibitions and publications about trends for designers and producers.

Barbara Mannucci

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