Editorial
Editorial nº 79
Leather Technology Magazine
![Summary](imagenes/sum79.jpg)
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Editorial
From 26 to 30 September 2011, the 21st Congress of
the IULTCS (International Union of Leather Technologists
and Chemists Societies) was held in Valencia, Spain.
This event gathered 320 attendees from all over the
world, the largest number of participants in the last three
International Congresses organized by the IULTCS. Previously,
in October 2008, the IULTCS Beijing Congress
was attended by 300 participants, many of whom were
Chinese.
At present, when the national and international leather
industry is hit by the local and international crisis whether
to a greater or lesser extent, it was encouraging to witness
the high level of participation by the research institutes,
chemical suppliers and tanneries that presented their lectures
or posters. Personally, I was really delighted to see
so many young people getting involved in some of the
links of the leather value chain.
For several years, we used to see the same “old” faces
in this kind of events and, to my mind, it somewhat reflected “a kind of stagnation”, which made me wonder if
it was the reflection of a stagnated tanning industry at an
international level. Luckily, young people, some of them
accompanied by experienced tutors, are working with
enthusiasm and creativity.
The concern to develop environmentally friendly processes
and technologies in order to minimize the negative
environmental impacts of the leather industry was one of
the top issues at the Congress. As suggested by Dr. Bi Shi,
current IULTCS President, in office until December 31,
2011, “Our Tanning Industry is a green and sustainable
sector because we are transforming a byproduct left by
human beings into beautiful articles that human beings
themselves can enjoy”.
Nevertheless, another issue during the Congress and
the different Commissions of the IULTCS, which met during
the sessions’ intervals, was to maintain and increase
the penetration of leather into the market, finding the best
way to convey a clear message to users, avoiding to mislead
(or maybe I should say “deceive”) them with leather
substitutes that are said to have the same characteristics and properties as leather (“environmentally friendly
leather”, “eco leather”, etc.).
As is the tradition in the last IULTS Congresses, there
was room for the Merit Award for Excellence. The
award was granted to the renowned Chemical Engineer
and leather scientist, Mr. Antoni Ylla- Catalá, from Spain
who, for 43 years consecutive years, has held positions as
Technical Director with a number of important Spanish
tanneries.
Our next issues of “Tecnología del Cuero” will include
details of the activities of the IULTS Commissions (IUC,
IUF, IUP, IUE, IUT and IUR)
Lic. Patricia Casey - Presidente
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