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JULY/AUGUST 2012 | www.footwearbiz.com
WF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
SATRA OPENS NEW OFFICE
AND LABORATORY IN
CHINA
SATRA officially opened its new
office and laboratory facility in
Dongguan, China, in May. The testing
and research organisation’s chief
executive, Austin Simmons, said: “This
laboratory and office complex provides
a solid foundation from which to better
service our Chinese members and
customers.”
SATRA has been active in China for
many years, initially working with
western footwear brands that
outsourced manufacturing to the Far
East. It opened a representative office
in Dongguan in 2004. The organisation
has also built up experience and
knowledge of working directly with
Chinese manufacturers. As a result it
has been able to create a leather-
grading system that has been accepted
both by Chinese tanneries and
international brands.
BASF GAINS CERTIFICATION
FOR ADHESIVE SYSTEM
Chemicals manufacturer BASF has
received certification for a compostable
adhesive system consisting of Epotal
ECO and curing agent. The certification
comes from standards agency TÜV and
demonstrates that the whole adhesive
system, consisting of Epotal ECO and
the corresponding curing agent, fulfils
the evaluation criteria for compostable
materials as outlined in the European
Standard 13432.
Epotal ECO had already received this
certification in its own right in 2010.
Test results show that within 70 days
Epotal ECO is 90% decomposed. And
safer decomposition the adhesive
leaves no toxic residues.
STAHL EXPANDS IN INDIA,
BANGLADESH, TURKEY, AND
ETHIOPIA
Specialty chemicals manufacturer
Stahl is investing in a
€
1 million
expansion in India to support double-
digit levels of growth in that market.
The company has said the investment
will help it to meet “ever-increasing
demand” for its leather processing and
finishing
solutions.
Production
facilities at Ranipet and research and
development
and
applications
laboratory facilities in Chennai will
both benefit from this investment. The
new facilities are expected to open
during the first quarter of 2013.
It has also announced new customer
support centres in Bangladesh and
Ethiopia. Rapid development in the
economies of both countries has led to
growth in their leather sector and the
chemicals manufacturer has said that
the time is now right for it to provide “a
high level of local technical advice and
training facilities” in both countries.
Technicians in Dhaka, Bangladesh,
will be supported by their colleagues
from Europe and India and by the
company’s global team. They will be
able to respond quickly to customer
enquiries and provide on-site support
and training drawing on international
experience. With similar growth being
seen in Ethiopia, the company has said
it will open a new technical support
centre in Akaki Kality, approximately
20 kilometres south of the capital
Addis Ababa towards the end of 2012.
The company has also stated that it
is investing
€
500,000 in a new
laboratory in Usak, Turkey, which will
open this August.
AUTHORITIES ANNOUNCE
NEW LEATHER RESEARCH
CENTRE IN NORTH-WEST
CHINA
Developments in the leather industry
in Guanghe County in the central part
of Gansu Province in China are taking
place at high speed. As tanneries
expand production for footwear
leather, the local authorities have
announced that they will open a
dedicated leather research centre
there, saying it will be the largest
facility of its kind in north-west China.
One local tanning company, Gansu
Hongliang Leather (highly commended
in the China region in the second
Tannery of the Year Programme in
2011), has announced that an
expansion programme will increase its
production capacity by 50%, from two
million hides per year to three million.
Another tanner, Jihua 3512 Leather
Factory, has announced a new tannery
in the area, which, with an investment
of $250 million, will also have capacity
to process three million hides per year.
TRENDS AND COLOURS
FROM CLARIANT FOR
AUTUMN-WINTER 2013-2014
Speciality chemicals manufacturer
Clariant has introduced a new version
of its leather trends booklet ‘Fashion
Up’. This new issue of the publication
illustrates the trends that the company
believes tanners will have to bear in
mind when producing leather for the
autumn-winter 2013-2014 fashion
season.
“The austerity mindset and stark
minimalism that have shaped fashion
over the past few seasons have lost
their grip on the trend themes for
autumn-winter 2013-14,” the company
states. “’Fashion Up’ perfectly
illustrates this change in mood, with
four new trends in leather for the
seasons ahead. With Clariant’s
Modern Dandy and Crystalline themes,
decadence and gleaming surfaces
make a welcome return for autumn-
winter 2013-14. For those who prefer
something a little less flamboyant,
Derby Day places an equestrian slant
on country heritage and everyday
function is covered in Utility Military.”
Continuing its close cooperation
with MODEUROP, the Fashion Pool at
DSI (Das Schuhinstitut GmbH),
Clariant has also launched its new
Global Color Card for autumn-winter
2013-14. Following the last, colour-
intensive, optimistic-feeling season,
its new colour trend, called Drama,
veers initially to the gloomy, mystical
and morbid. Romanticism comes back
into play, but it is dark shaded and
mysterious. In contrast, many
nebulous, cool and bright shades of
winter pastels can be seen in the
second colour trend, Shadow. And the
retro trend of the past years persists
with the third trend, History, which is a
range of intense classical colours.
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