Editorial

Editorial nº 79

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