Day 4 – Friday 28th of June 2019

The last congress day provided further lectures on innovative approaches for sustainable leather auxiliaries or improving leather properties such as water resistance of leather or lowering emissions from leather. Altogether two key notes and 9 oral presentations have been brought to the audience.

The after lunch session held a lecture on the next level of sustainability, a circular approach of a no waste strategy. This was followed by a very practical example of “Zirkeltraining”, a brand that up-cycles covering materials of old sports gear such as sports mats and pommel horses into unique bags, pieces of luggage or storage container. The lecture programme was concluded by Leather Naturally!, an NGO devoted to campaign the image of leather.

A short lunch break was followed by the closing ceremony. First, Prof Dr Mwinyikione Mwinyihija, Executive Director of the African Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI) and COMESA, was given the word. He and his team will be the host of the XXXVI IULTCS International Congress, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, October 20-23 in 2021. He took the opportunity to introduce the audience to the hosting country and the African leather industry with a tempting video that made fancy for more.

Mr Chen Zhanguang of China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) was asked on stage to introduced the 2023 congress which will be held in China.

This was followed by an appreciation note to the Organising Committee and the closing remarks before Thomas Yu and Dr Dietrich Tegtmeyer took down the IULTCS banner and handed it over to Professor Mwinyikione Mwinyihija thus officially declaring XXXV IULTCS International Congress closed.

We cordially thank again all our business partners, supporters, donators, participants and presenters as well as the Saxon State Parliament and the Saxony Development Bureau for strong support and encouragement. It was an honour to be host of an event of this importance and dimension. We enjoyed having the world family of the leather and tanning industry as guest here with us in Dresden!

Good bye and all the best to all our guests!