Production value decreased (-5.8% year-on-year), as did exports (-5%). The number of active companies also fell (-3.2%), as did the number of employees (-2%). The 2026 assembly of UNIC – Italian Tanneries, the 80th in its history (12 June, Po.Te.Co., Santa Croce sull’Arno), was an opportunity to present the sector’s annual results, which closed a complex 2025, as data shows, in line with the global difficulties affecting the product and continuing the trend of recent years. But it confirms its international relevance and, in a phase of supply chain transformation, its ability to come out of the challenge as a winner.
A complex 2025, to which it can recover
“It’s no consolation to know that our European and non-European competitors aren’t doing any better”, said outgoing UNIC president Fabrizio Nuti, “quite the opposite. But it helps us understand that the problems are not so much related to our tanning business model, but rather to general consumption trends”. Of the same thought of Nuti, newly appointed president Alessandro Iliprandi is also certain that Italian tanning has the tools to withstand the impact of the economic situation and then restart, provided it responds to the transformation challenges it imposes.
Leadership factors
All things considered, Italian leather confirmed its leadership, also because its vocation lies in the highest segments of fashion and design: 65.5% of production targets the medium-high and top-of-the-range segments. Italian tanning, according to the tables prepared by UNIC’s Economic Service, is the first in Europe: it accounts for 65% of the value and 72% of the volume of continental production. With customers in 117 countries worldwide, Italy remains a global heavyweight: within this framework, it accounts for 27% of production value and 31% of the export value of finished leather.
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