The time has come, for Lineapelle, to raise the curtain on 2019. The first event signed by the most important business experience of the global leather area, will be staged tomorrow in London, in the now familiar exhibition venue of the Ham Yard Hotel. Informal atmospheres, (mostly) creative contacts and stylistic sharing, make Lineapelle London an always-to-be-seen event to measure the status of a strategic market. Even more so today, in light of the Brexit-stress that makes every business context to put it mildly confusing. Lineapelle London, therefore, opens tomorrow at 10AM (London time), hosting 42 companies: 27 tanneries, 7 producers of accessories and components, 8 of fabrics and synthetics. 37 are Italian and have arrived in London on the wave of a very complex situation. Italian leathers exports, explains a note UNIC – Italian Tanneries, tells of a partial annual figure (January/October 2018) that “confirms the difficulties for finished leathers” which, towards the United Kingdom, lost 15% in the same period of 2017. “However, in full recovery, the sole and full-thickness bovine sole leather. Instead bovine split leather, including the flesh split, are fully recovering. Box-calf are stable. Suede suffers, while patent leathers are growing (+10%) “. For accessories and components lights and shadows are the same: sales volumes towards London (-7%), are seeing a slight increase in value: +2%. Soles and bottoms are suffering, small metal parts are doing very well, while fabrics and synthetics are struggling.
Going back to the fair, here’s the program for the first day.
Before the stand opening, at 9.30AM, one of the two stylistic seminars will take place (the other one is at 2PM) based on the mood developed by the Lineapelle Fashion Committee for summer 2020: CO-NATURAL. From 11 to 13 the future will be holding court, with the Innovation Talks, a spin off of Lineapelle Innovation Square, which will “host trend analysts, influencers, innovators, designers and producers of materials, who will come together to be inspired by the novelties presented, stimulated by discussions and potential partnerships”. At 3.30PM will take place an open doors interdisciplinary round table on “leather, craftsmanship and stylistic approach, with a perspective on personalizing the product in the context of interior design”. That’s the theme of the seminar Relationships Between Material, Designer & User. The closing of the stands is scheduled for 5.30PM.
