Presentation

The earliest written records from the Tanners Guild of Igualada date back to 1693. Since the beginning they have worked hard to adapt their products to the new demands of the market and they have become a worldwide referent in the tannery sector. The Guild is formed basically by small and medium-sized enterprises with family origin that have evolved generation after generation from a craft system to a great level of specialization that places the tannery industry in Igualada in the first line at worldwide level. The tanners from Igualada have known how to adapt their industries to the modernization of the processes and have increased considerably the production as well as the diversity of the products manufactured, taking the quality as a priority and with a scrupulous respect for the environment.

Tanners Guild from Igualada is a trade organization that groups 31 sector companies that employs 800 workers directly and around 400 employees in complementary activities and services.

The high quality of their products and the effort of reconverting their industries to offer the articles that the market asks for have allowed the tanners to become a relevant player in a sector strongly marked by the irruption of very aggressive competitors coming from countries with very lower production costs.

The tanners from Igualada are not only a referent for the quality of their leather but their industry also produce a minimum environmental effect. The great investments in Research and Development, in the application of clean technologies, in the treatment of purification of water and waste, together with the impulse given in the Leather Technology School and the great effort of the tanners from Igualada to specialize and reconvert their industries to be able to offer the most possible large range of top leather articles are factors that explain why today Igualada is considerated the world-wide capital of the leather.