In the kelp forests of the North Pacific, there is an animal that weighs thirty kilos and sustains an entire ecosystem: the sea otter. As long as it is there, the sea urchins remain in check and the kelp grows in columns as tall as buildings. Remove it, and within a few years the sea urchins devour everything. What remains is a barren seabed, a ‘sea urchin desert’. No one had planned this disaster. All it took was for one link in the chain to disappear.

Bear that barren seabed in mind, because the story told by the Assomac General Assembly, which met on 18 June in Milan, is precisely this: what happens when a link in the chain comes loose.

EIGHT TO ONE

The most striking figure is not a percentage, but a ratio. In Vigevano, the historic heartland of the footwear machinery industry, there are now eight machinery manufacturers for every footwear manufacturer. Eight to one. An ecosystem in which the upstream players in the supply chain have remained, whilst the end-users have left. Viewed in this light, the supply chain bears a strong resemblance to a barren seabed: everything still appears to be in its place, but the balance has already been disrupted.

The sector’s figures confirm this impression. 2025 ended with a decline of 11 per cent, following a 12 per cent drop in 2024, resulting in an estimated output of 512 million euros. The number of companies fell from 225 to 220, the workforce from 3,800 to 3,700, and exports from 385 to 338 million. These figures point to a decidedly negative trend.

THE SHARING THAT IS MELTING AWAY

In 2005, Italy accounted for 42 per cent of global trade in the sector. By 2025, this had fallen to 27 per cent. Fifteen percentage points evaporated in twenty years. Over the same period, China’s share rose to 49 per cent, making it the world’s leading exporter. And here we must remain realistic, because this overtaking is not down to skill alone: Beijing benefits from public support that is up to eight times higher than the OECD average. It is not a level playing field.

But it would be too easy to focus solely on the decline. The downturn is not uniform, and it is precisely in these differences that the future lies. Tannery machinery, which had held up for years, fell by 24.49 per cent: the sharpest decline. Leather goods machinery fell by 9.80 per cent, footwear machinery by 4.08 per cent, whilst spare parts and maintenance remained essentially stable (-0.64 per cent).

The findings of the economic analysis therefore show that the sector has undergone a profound structural transformation over the last thirty years. The number of firms and employees has gradually declined, whilst production and exports have remained at relatively high levels thanks to a process of specialisation, concentration and increased added value.

The sector remains strongly oriented towards international markets, with exports representing a structural and decisive component of turnover. However, recent trends highlight growing volatility in demand and greater exposure to global economic cycles.

At the same time, the Italian user sectors – tanning, footwear and leather goods – have followed different trajectories of development. The tanning and footwear sectors have recorded a significant reduction in production volumes, the number of firms and employment, though this has been accompanied by a gradual shift towards mid-to-high-end and high value-added production. The leather goods sector, on the other hand, has experienced a long period of strong growth, driven by the expansion of the luxury market and international demand from major brands, although it is now showing increasing vulnerability linked to the slowdown in the luxury sector.

The international competitive analysis confirms Italy’s central role in the segments requiring the highest level of technological specialisation, particularly in tanning machinery, leather goods machinery and spare parts. In these sectors, the Italian industry continues to maintain a significant competitive advantage based on quality, know-how, customisation capabilities and integration with production supply chains.

The competitive landscape is, however, markedly different in the footwear machinery sector, where China has consolidated a dominant position thanks to its ability to dominate high-volume production markets and more standardised segments.

The comparison with China is one of the key factors. Analyses show that the two countries exhibit profoundly different industrial models. Italy maintains a strong presence in the more sophisticated markets and premium segments, whilst China focuses its growth on emerging markets and higher-volume production. However, China’s ongoing technological advancement and growing capacity for international penetration make it increasingly necessary for Italian companies to strengthen the distinctive features of their offering and accelerate innovation processes.

The evolution of the sector’s industrial and technological models is also particularly significant. Machinery is no longer merely a physical asset, but is increasingly becoming an integrated, connected and service-oriented technological platform. Digitalisation, automation, software, artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance, remote technical support and data management are playing an ever-greater role in building competitive advantage.

Furthermore, a number of major strategic challenges that the sector will be called upon to address in the coming years are highlighted. Among these, the following are of particular importance:

• the expansion of companies’ scale and capital base;

• generational succession and the evolution of governance models;

• the need for increasing investment in technological innovation;

• the development of more structured international sales and support networks;

•

• the ability to establish a presence in new emerging markets, particularly Africa,

India and South-East Asia;

• the evolution of international trade fairs into permanent platforms for rela-

tions and industrial integration.

Analysis of the financial statements confirms that, whilst the sector is experiencing increasing competitive pressure and declining profitability, it maintains, on the whole, a sound capital and financial structure.

Companies generally demonstrate high levels of capitalisation, good financial autonomy, adequate liquidity and a gradual reduction in financial leverage. This solidity is now one of the sector’s main strengths and provides the necessary foundation to support investment, transformation processes and international growth strategies.

However, certain critical issues remain. In fact, recent years have seen a gradual squeeze on operating margins, greater volatility in profitability, a slowdown in productivity and a deterioration in working capital management, particularly in the footwear and leather goods machinery sector, which appears to be more exposed to fluctuations in international demand.

The tannery machinery sector, on the other hand, shows greater resilience and a better ability to absorb economic shocks, thanks to a more balanced operational structure and less volatility in financial results.

Overall, the picture is of a sector that still retains significant strengths – technological expertise, industrial heritage, international reputation and financial soundness – but which now finds itself at a decisive stage in its evolution.

The challenge in the coming years will not only concern the ability to defend existing market shares, but above all the opportunity to redefine the sector’s competitive model within a profoundly changed global context. Innovation, technological integration, advanced internationalisation, collaboration between companies, scaling up and the enhancement of skills will be increasingly decisive factors.

Finally, the evidence suggests that maintaining Italy’s leadership will require an increasing ability to develop shared strategies and long-term industrial visions. Only through investment, the pooling of expertise and the strengthening of its international presence will the sector be able to continue to serve as a global benchmark for technologies dedicated to the tanning, footwear and leather goods supply chains.

In the 1950s, an Italian industrial magazine was edited by a poet. It was called “Civiltà delle Macchine” (Civilisation of Machines), commissioned by Finmeccanica, and at its helm were Leonardo Sinisgalli – an engineer who wrote verse, or perhaps a poet who designed machines, depending on how you look at it – and Giuseppe Luraghi, a manager who had previously worked at Pirelli, Lanerossi and Alfa Romeo. Their idea was simple and, for the time, almost heretical: technology, industry, culture and beauty are not separate worlds. They are part of the same vision for the country.

Seventy years later, in the hall of the Fondazione Cariplo Conference Centre, that same insight has returned to the fore. Except that now it is not being used to celebrate an economic miracle. It is being used to stem the bleeding.

On 18 June, the ASSOMAC General Assembly presented the figures for the footwear, leather goods and tanning technology sector. We examine these figures in greater detail in the following pages, but here we note that they are still on a downward trend.

THE SUPPLY CHAIN, BEFORE THE PRODUCT

Mauro Bergozza, president of ASSOMAC, chose not to begin his speech by discussing foreign markets or tariffs. He began with a principle, which he repeated as one repeats something one truly cares about: ‘There is no “Made in Italy” without the supply chain. There is no supply chain without manufacturing. There is no manufacturing without technology.’ The argument is that ‘Made in Italy’ does not come into being when the product is sold. It comes into being much earlier – in capital goods, components, chemicals and expertise – and holds up as long as all the links hold up. When one weakens, the entire chain falters.

Herein lies the most interesting reversal in the report. For years, the sector has told itself a convenient story: production can move elsewhere, as long as design, research and know-how remain in Italy. Reality has disproved this notion. Supply chains do not break painlessly: they shift. And when they shift, they do so in their entirety. First the end product migrates, then the suppliers, then the investments, and finally the very capacity to innovate. Technology is the last to leave, but it does leave.

The Vigevano district is the case study for this diagnosis. There, the ratio of machinery manufacturers to footwear manufacturers has now reached eight to one. A region built on the interdependence between those who make shoes and those who make the machines to produce them has now become so unbalanced that it is almost unrecognisable. Bergozza puts it bluntly: the problem is not China; China is the consequence. The problem is that we are hollowing out our supply chains all by ourselves.

Hence the concrete proposal, the one that gives practical meaning to the analysis: a permanent supply chain round table bringing together representatives from the fields of technology, materials and finished products – footwear, leather goods and tanning. Not yet another body, but a permanent forum for developing common strategies and presenting a united front to national and European institutions. Because – and this point applies beyond the sector as well – individual companies no longer compete on their own today. It is industrial ecosystems, supported by long-term public strategies, that compete.

Around this idea, the Assembly has set out concrete measures: ongoing monitoring of foreign markets, new industrial partnerships, generational continuity, trade fairs as a promotional tool, and digital and organisational transformation. It has become clear that none of these challenges can be tackled by a single company acting alone. And the message reached a distinguished audience: from Minister Urso’s adviser, Roberto Luongo, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Alessandra Pastorelli, to the ICE Agency with Director-General Lorenzo Galanti, right through to the presidents of Assocalzaturifici, UNIC and Assopellettieri – Giovanna Ceolini, Alessandro Iliprandi and Claudia Sequi.

Within this discourse lies a call that raises the bar beyond the sector’s boundaries: a European and national industrial policy that is up to the task. Not a defensive policy, but one capable of fostering investment, scaling up, and the reshoring of high value-added production. And one that regards the technologies underpinning ‘Made in Italy’ as a strategic national asset, to be managed in a manner consistent with the country’s industrial interests. Within this framework, Federmacchine is called upon to act as a facilitator in dealings with Brussels.

AFRICA, NOW

If there is one section where the tone of the report shifts, it is the one on internationalisation. In particular, the issue of Africa. ‘The Mattei Plan is an important signal. But we need to step up the pace. Because Italy’s industrial presence must grow today, before other competitors further consolidate positions that will be harder to reach or overcome tomorrow.’

One observation, which emerged during the Assembly’s discussions, explains why this is the case. China’s advance in Africa is not about price: it is about presence, about building relationships before others do. This is precisely the ground on which the Mattei Plan is seeking to establish itself. The experience in Kenya, cited by Bergozza as an example of what happens when embassies, the Italian Trade Agency (ICE) and businesses pull in the same direction, is a small-scale model of what is needed on a larger scale.

Alongside this are the agreements Europe is forging with Mercosur, India, Indonesia and Mexico, and a trade fair presence that will see an Italian pavilion at the ANPIC fair in León, Mexico.

There is also a detail that adds food for thought to the many points already raised. Entrepreneurs report that companies in the sector hardly produce anything standardised anymore. The technical department is working at full capacity because every machine becomes a bespoke piece, designed around a client who, in turn, must innovate in order not to fall behind. This is both an asset and a cost: extremely high levels of expertise, technicians who take years to train, and the necessary funding.

The trade fair itself has changed in nature. It is no longer a place where sales are made, but one where people meet: this is what the tanners say, having scaled back from the twelve events a year of the past to the two editions of Lineapelle considered truly indispensable.

And here the circle is complete with another voice from the Assembly, that of those representing footwear manufacturers: in Italy, the entire value chain exists, from tanning machinery to the finished product, and this is unique in the world. Taken piece by piece, every link in this supply chain is currently seeing a decline in figures. Taken as a whole, however, it retains something that resembles not resilience, but anti-fragility: the ability to emerge from a setback stronger than before. Provided we stick together.

Sinisgalli used to write verses amongst his technical drawings because he realised that the machine, on its own, tells us nothing. Seventy years on, the sector that manufactures machinery for the leather and footwear industries is asking the same of Italy: not to defend a product, but to recognise a way of life. Before that, too, moves on.

Eighty years of history spanning the association, industry, and culture. Looking toward the future. The 80th Annual Meeting of UNIC – Italian Tanners (at Po.Te.Co.), the 80th Annual General Meeting of UNIC – Italian Tannery Association, an event that celebrated a symbolic milestone for the association founded on April 9, 1946. The association represents one of the most significant sectors of Made in Italy, with a value of approximately 4 billion euros and recognized international leadership in quality, innovation, and environmental commitment.

During the Assembly, Alessandro Iliprandi (CEO of Bonaudo Spa), a historic Italian company specializing in the production of high-quality leathers for the luxury segment, was elected president of UNIC. Alessandro Iliprandi is the association’s 19th president and will be joined by vice presidents Matteo Mastrotto (Rino Mastrotto Group), Fabrizio Nuti (Nuti Ivo Group), and Gianni Russo (Russo di Casandrino).

“This is a particularly difficult time for the industry,” says Alessandro Iliprandi. “We face many challenges, but we have vision, courage, and a constant drive to improve on our side. Among the priorities of my term will be strengthening collaboration with our customers throughout the supply chain, ensuring even more effective representation at the European level, and supporting a culture of training and leather craftsmanship, with a particular focus on the younger generations and the dissemination of skills.”

The Assembly also provided an opportunity to look back on the association’s eighty years of activity through the presentation of RADICI, the historical volume produced by UNIC that chronicles the evolution of Italian tanning from the post-World War II era to the present day. Through documents, images, and testimonials, the book highlights the value of an industrial, cultural, and manufacturing heritage that has accompanied and continues to accompany the international growth of Italian leather and has helped shape the sector’s identity.

A heritage that, as outgoing president Fabrizio Nuti noted in his farewell address, represents a strategic resource for the future: “UNIC is not just a representative body. It is also a forum for dialogue and growth for the sector, helping our companies defend and enhance their production model.”

The 80th-anniversary celebration comes at a particularly challenging time for the tanning industry. In 2025, Italian tanning production declined by nearly 6% in value and 4% in volume, while exports fell by 5%. The number of companies and employees also declined, confirming that the economic outlook remains difficult.

Straddling tradition and innovation, culture and industry, UNIC’s 80th anniversary reaffirms the association’s central role in representing, protecting, and promoting Italian leather worldwide, supporting companies as they face the challenges ahead in the coming years.

Italian footwear represents not only a supply chain of excellence recognised worldwide, but a living cultural heritage that continues to evolve thanks to its ability to combine tradition and innovation, creativity and manufacturing expertise, quality and research – built up over time through the work, skills and passion of generations of entrepreneurs, technicians, designers and trainers. Building on this premise, the process to nominate the Art of Italian Footwear for inclusion on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage is now officially underway. An initiative promoted by Assocalzaturifici, Museimpresa, CERCAL and the Politecnico Calzaturiero through the Promoting Committee chaired by Giovanna Ceolini, established with the aim of recognising, promoting and passing on to future generations one of the most representative aspects of Made in Italy. The art of Italian shoemaking would be the first in the world to receive UNESCO recognition.

Supported by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, the project is a sector-wide initiative involving the worlds of business, education, culture and research, with the aim of establishing a shared approach capable of promoting the manufacturing, economic and social culture of a key sector in the country.

On 11 June, at the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, the Promotional Committee for the Safeguarding and Promotion of the Art of Italian Footwear will be officially established; this body will lead the nomination process.

“The UNESCO nomination stems from a desire to recognise and promote a heritage that belongs to the whole country. Italian footwear is an expression of a culture of craftsmanship that combines technical skills, creativity, regional identity and the capacity for innovation. Through this process, we wish to affirm the cultural value of our know-how and strengthen our commitment to passing it on to future generations,” stated Giovanna Ceolini.

They arrive at our doorsteps. They are small, lightweight parcels, sent by people with unpronounceable names. They cost less than a hundred euros, incur no customs duties, and for the fashion sector alone, between 120 and 150 million of them enter Italy every year. An industrial scale disguised as personal shipments. From July 2026, the rules will change: new duties on non-EU parcels below the €100 threshold will come into force. Too late, according to many.

Those parcels are the face of ultra-fashion, the perfect negative of another story. That of Italian workshops, electroplating plants, engineering firms and finishers that produce luxury metal accessories and would never end up in those parcels. It is the supply chain that, over the past twelve months, has stopped asking for permission. And has started writing its own rules.

The third edition of the Physis Annual Summit, held in Florence on 28 May 2026, showcased the incredible work developed over three years of participation in various working groups.

The Physis Consortium — a benefit corporation and innovative start-up founded in 2023 — has grown to over forty member companies across four sectors: process materials, industrial plant engineering, accessory manufacturing, and finishing treatments. There were eight at the start.

STANDARDS

A year ago, at ISO headquarters, the Italian request for a working group dedicated to resistance testing for metal accessories was viewed as the request of a sector with requirements too specific for a global working group. In short, the ‘younger siblings’ of fine jewellery and watchmaking. Today, that working group includes more than ten countries, because the fine jewellery sector has also recognised that those requirements were its own as well. ISO/CD 25392-1 on resistance to humid heat will move to the DIS stage in September 2026, following the final consultation in May. It is a small standard, but it is Italian, and it comes from an industry that for decades had been testing its own accessories using methods developed for the electronics and automotive sectors. Meanwhile, ISO 19376-1:2025 on terms and definitions and ISO 9202:2026 on methods for determining the purity of precious metals have been published, whilst another working group (WG 6) is addressing the dimensions and functionality of jewellery items, from bracelet sizes to clasp specifications. Regarding recycled metal, the definition of ‘recycled gold’ established by ISO has already been adopted by the RJC and the LBMA. The next step comes from Italy: in the coming weeks, a proposal will be submitted to establish a European CEN working group dedicated to supply chain due diligence and the recycling of all precious metals.

CHEMICALS

The same pattern applies to substances. The textile, leather and footwear sectors have had an MRSL — the list of restricted substances in production — for years.

Metal accessories, however, do not. A conversation between Ester Falletta – technical director of Physis – and Elisa Monica Gavazza – Sector Lead and Quality Assurance Director of the ZDHC Roadmap to Zero – gave rise to a project that now sees the Consortium as the technical lead, with the patronage of ZDHC and the support of Kering and LVMH — at the summit with Maria Cristina Ligi, Gaia di Tommaso and Enrico Fatarella. The first draft has been sent; the technical council is being formed; kick-off in June 2026; publication expected by the end of the year. Future extension to paint formulators is already on the agenda. The message from the two luxury groups was clear: no one is asking to stop electroplating; the aim is to enhance a sector that is already performing well and to make its commitment measurable.

WATER

In bronze and alkaline copper baths, cyanides are a technical necessity, not a whim: they entered production precisely when, for regulatory reasons, nickel had to be phased out. For years, the only way to dispose of them was through chemical treatment with hypochlorite — a process that doubled the volume of water to be managed and which, in LCA tests, caused impact indicators to skyrocket. The solution developed within the Consortium is called electrochlorination. It started in the laboratory, moved through pilot lines, and is now in production. It operates continuously at low voltage, breaks down cyanides up to 40 grams per litre without increasing volume, and is scalable from a few hundred litres upwards. And — a detail of no small importance — it simultaneously recovers non-precious metals, which until recently were sent for disposal. Integrated with evaporators, it paves the way for a virtually closed-loop cycle.

AUDITS AND DATA

How many audits does a company in the supply chain undergo each year? Between fifteen and thirty, according to Francesca Rulli (co-founder of Ympact and 4sustainability), based on requirements that largely overlap. To reduce the burden and make the most of third-party certifications already held, a working group was set up — in collaboration with Confindustria Moda — which reviewed more than 20 different checklists and produced a single model: the 4s Ethic programme. Bureau Veritas Italia is the first body to apply it in practice from June 2026, with three other bodies already set to adopt it. Objective: to optimise verification processes across the supply chain and improve transparency for brands and suppliers.

A Physis consortium member acted as a test case in the beta trial. 

The European Accelerator, with the contribution of the Physis Consortium, has released a harmonised questionnaire for energy, water and waste, already adopted by several brands. Here too, the aim is clear: to simplify and harmonise ESG data collection and the exchange of information along the supply chain

The Common Water Framework — developed by Kering, LVMH and other luxury and sports groups, with input from WWF, AWS, ZDHC and the Consortium itself — aims to harmonise the collection and assessment of information related to water management. It is currently in public consultation and is designed to be modular so that even a micro-enterprise can engage with it without being overwhelmed.

On the reporting front, Physis has continued its contribution to the EFRAG VSME standards, developing multilingual training materials and mapping free tools for unlisted SMEs. The leap to be made, said Rulli, is not from document-based bureaucracy to a new form of bureaucracy: it is the transition from a document-based ecosystem to a data-based one.

MARKET

The third round table — moderated by Minister Plenipotentiary Giuseppe Scognamiglio, president of Eastwest — looked beyond the laboratories. Maria Cristina Squarcialupi – Confindustria Federorafi – described a perfect storm: gold above $5,500 an ounce in January 2026, US tariffs, frozen Middle Eastern markets, and the collapse of Turkey, which went from a 500% increase in exports in the 2024–25 period to eighth place in the first two months of 2026. The rush for the metal, she noted, began before the geopolitical crises: it was the central banks that had been buying gold for years to break free from dependence on the dollar, and when the financial sector joined in, the price skyrocketed. Italy remains the world’s leading exporter of gold jewellery and the third-largest producer — after India and China — with exports accounting for 90% of production. Carlo Palmieri – Confindustria Moda – laid the figures on the table: the sector, which was worth €96 billion in 2023, fell to €89 billion in 2024, whilst 2025 is expected to close at €70 billion. For the first time, the association has adopted a strategic plan with a horizon extending beyond 2030, presented to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, which calls for energy subsidies, EPR, redundancy schemes and the harmonisation of audits. Mauro Bergozza – Assomac – pointed out that Italy is the only European country left as a supplier of leather processing technologies: competition comes from China, Korea and Taiwan, offering lower prices and incomparable quality. The direction to aim for, he said, is clear: artificial intelligence and traceability from livestock farming to the finished product.

What will the Physis Consortium focus on in the coming months, and which critical issues within the supply chain will it seek to address and resolve? How to approach due diligence within the supply chain; how to handle auditing of supply chain due diligence whilst protecting companies’ know-how and confidential data; how to continue on the path towards harmonising audits and enhancing the value of third-party certifications; considering the certification of recycled materials; continuing to focus on collaboration and dialogue between client brands and the supply chain to develop shared solutions that, in effect, represent a win-win solution.