By Fabrizio UgoliniThe pandemic continues to dominate the global economic sentiment but there is a widespread perception that conditions in the global economy will improve over the next six months. After a tremendous drop of demand in 2020 in both leather-goods and shoes-upper (that is still on-going, at least for the time being), the good news is that the latest industry forecasts are showing a consistent growth up to 2025 with a respective CAGR of 4,10% and 6,3% (based on 2019 output).Despite all 2020 negativities, our Finishing Division performed better than expected (mainly driven by a strong upholstery market in APAC). Also, the business generated within the first two months of 2021 shows encouraging results.Specific activities have been rolled out in the last couple of months:The latest fashion collection for spring-summer 2022 has been released and it is currently under promotion on a global scale.We successfully held a webinar on Leather Upgrading, showing the high performances of our BASEMASK products range. Aside of this activity, a collection of 20 different articles (combining chemicals and creativity) has been prepared and spread out through a dedicated presentation to all our colleagues.The new AGUASTOP W 200 – an innovative PFC-free water repellent – has been released to the market, and a strong and successful marketing campaign is currently ongoing.An innovative titanium-free white pigment, BASETONE WHITE TI-Free, has been realized and introduced.
