Who we are
The Genuine Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortium was founded in 1994 by a small group of Tuscan tanners. Within a short time the Consortium increased in membership.
Today there are more than 20 associated tanneries, all of them operating in Tuscany, in the area between Pisa and Florence, and sharing the same passion for vegetable-tanned leather and the same standards of production. In the Tuscan Leather District vegetable-tanned leather is still produced following the traditional methods: turning raw hides into durable leather takes time and patience, and the skillful combination of technology and experience.
Our skin tells our story: who we are, where we come from, what we have done, how we have lived. So does our leather…
The quality of Tuscan vegetable-tanned leather is the result of a long-lasting expertise and it’s closely connected to the lifestyle and culture of its production area. The Consortium acts as guarantor and ambassador of this Tuscan excellence throughout the world, an undertaking it has consolidated with the creation of the quality trademark “Pelle Conciata al Vegetale in Toscana” (Tuscan Vegetable Tanned Leather) and of the quality label guaranteeing quality and origin of leathers produced by its member tanneries.
Presented as an elegantly scripted certificate of warranty endowed with a complex anti-counterfeiting system, the quality label enables the traceability of both the tannery supplying leather and the manufacturer of the finished product.
Those who choose vegetable tanned leather in Tuscany not only seek the quality and value of a product, but an emotion that, day after day, accompanies its use.
MISSION
The Genuine Italian Vegetable-Tanned Leather Consortium is a non-profit organization whose mission is: to promote vegetable-tanned leather; to safeguard a typical Tuscan product; to guarantee the quality of raw materials and processes used in its production and to highlight traditional techniques whose origins lie deep in Tuscan history.
It proposes a wide range of different activities: sponsoring research; organising events and seminars or guided tours in tanneries for fashion schools; holding workshops for young designers, makers and producers; publishing informative materials on vegetable tanning.
The consortium can offer a constant and effective dialog to all the stakeholders of the leather sector organising made-to-measure activities for each one of them. Its main focus is anyway the training of young designers and young consumers with the aim of creating a product’s culture going beyond the market’s demand or the trends of the moment.