Since the early days, man has learned to use the fur of the animals he hunted for food as a protection from cold weather and from adverse climatic events. As then, today cowhide is mainly a by-product of the meat industry and therefore it does not increase the slaughter rate, it is indeed produced from a part of the waste that would otherwise undergo a disposal process.
Being leather an organic element, it needs special treatments to make it last longer. These operations originally took place using water and vegetable tannins usually along the river banks. This is indeed how our ancestors began to develop the tanning business in the province of Vicenza, a city located in North-Eastern Italy. Already in the eighteenth century the art of tanning was present in numerous locations from Schio, to Arzignano, Bassano, Marostica and Valdagno.
With the help of scientific and technological innovations, this industrialization process, focused on the tanning industry, made Arzignano one of the most productive districts in Europe (only in 2012, despite the crisis that hit the nation, the total exports amounted to € 1,807 million and the production of the district covers 1, 6% of the national GDP).
Marchetto Pellami, with operational and administrative headquarters in the heart of the Arzignano tanning district, thanks to the experience and the innovative spirit of the family members who work in the company, has successfully combined the traditional know-how with the innovations and the fresh opportunities offered by the contemporary era.
REFERENCES:
– http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industria_conciaria
– http://www.osservatoriodistretti.org/node/137/distretto-vicentino-della-concia
– http://www.unic.it/it/distretti_conceria_italiana.php
– http://tesi.cab.unipd.it/27095/1/IL_DISTRETTO_DELLA_CONCIA_DI_ARZIGNANO.pdf
– http://www.inarzignanonews.it/DettaglioComunicazione.aspx?id=1901