The European Alliance for the Leather Goods Industry (ELGA) was set up on 27 April in Brussels. It will be a body that finds collective responses to the problems of European leather goods by promoting the wealth of knowledge and the innovation scope of the sector, defending it from the threat of counterfeiting , and fostering internationalization and access to markets. ELGA is the 4-member category association: French (FFM, whose chairman Arnaud Haefelin assumes the lead), Spanish (ASEFMA), British (BTAA) and Italian (AIMPES). AIMPES states that “accession to the European Federation is a significant step since it fills a gap that lasts for several years during which the leather industry did not have a representative and reference body at European level that could protect the interests of the industry At Community institutions”.
