Most of the big Italian fashion brands that have become global names started with ‘leather’.
Prada (1913), Gucci (1921), Ferragamo (1927) & Bottega Veneta (1966) began as leather goods stores.
Even Roberto Cavalli, best known today for wild prints, became famous by patenting a procedure for printing on leather.
Italy has thousands of leather businesses today (more than 4500 in Sicily alone).
Factor 2: Craftsmanship
Artisanship has always been a critical feature in Italy, and surnames based on trade are held in high regard.
For example, Ferrari, a common surname in Italy, comes from Ferraro, meaning blacksmith.
And the founder of the iconic car brand Ferrari was a blacksmith’s son.
Similarly, other common surnames, Vasari & Tessitori, come from pottery makers & weavers.
The respect for artisanship has led to “Made in Italy” becoming a powerful ‘brand’ that has benefited Italian leather goods.
Factor 3: High focus on vegetable tanning
Unless made in a lab, most leather comes from animal hides or skin, which is full of damaging bacteria.
One solution to get rid of bacteria is to dry the leather, but drying makes the leather hard like wood.
To avoid bacteria or hardness, experts tan the leather.
Tanning comes from tannins (natural substances found in tree bark, leaves & fruits, etc.).
In the 1840s, a chemical alternative, Chromium Sulfate, was discovered that reduced the tanning time to a couple of days against months in the case of vegetable tanning.
Now, 90% of the leather in the world is chrome-tanned, but most of the Italian leather is vegetable tanned.
Santa Croce, a town in Italy, for example, has hundreds of leather tanners, and all focus on vegetable tanning.
There is also a consortium, VPICAV, dedicated solely to veg-tanning leather traditionally, which may take months.
Because they can’t have an artificial chemical coating to hide flaws, veg-tanned leathers have to be high-quality to begin with and, therefore, expensive.
