IULTCS announces the appointment of four new Commission Chairs
Each Chairperson was selected due to their dedication, leadership, and vision for the IULTCS organization, these attributes stood out during the election process, and the officers are confident that each one will excel in their new role.
As Commission Chairs, they will play a crucial part in shaping the future initiatives, fostering collaborations, and driving positive change for IULTCS. The executive Committee and other Commission Chairs within the organisation, on behalf of all IULTCS members would like to offer a warm welcome to the new Commission Chairs and we look forward to working closely together to help achieve our shared goals.

The new IUC (Chemicals) Commission Chair is Tiziana Gambicorti. Tiziana works as the Standardisation and Sustainability Manager at Biokimica SpA – Italy. In the roles she is responsible for the chemical analysis laboratory and project leader for “Measuring sustainability” of the company’s products, to improve environmental performance.

The new IUE (Environmental) Commission Chair is Daniele Bacchi. Daniele is the Environmental Division Manager at ITALPROGETTI. He is responsible for the company’s general plant design, supervision of equipment construction, installation and startup projects, coordination of commercial activities and research and development.

The new IUS (Sustainability) Commission Chair is Kim A. de Sena. Kim is the Sustainability Director for JBS SA. He is responsible for the sustainability department of the company\'s Leather Business Division. Among the main activities are the strategic planning, management of Life Cycle Assessments of materials, traceability and chain transparency projects.

The new IUR (Research) Commission Chair is Dr. Volker Rabe. Dr. Volker is the head of wet end research and development for TFL Deutschland GmbH, in Leverkusen, Germany.
Footwear Industry Articles
- ‘Footwear and leather goods sectors show united front at R-CTFL Masterplan review’The R-CTFL Masterplan is currently under review, and a strategic planning session was recently convened with all key stakeholders and representatives present.The footwear and leather contingent participated fully in the session. Representatives from the dtic’s Footwear and Leather sector desk, SAFLEC, SAFLIA, and organised labour, i ...moreObituary: Vic Jablowski, BUSM, Protech V (03/09/1953-11/12/2025): One of those who survived BU’s closureDurban, KZN, SA – My dad – was AMAZING.Born in 1953, he married Evelyn in 1979. My sister, Luanne Hough, was born in 1980, and I followed in 1983.A family man who made sure he supported his family in the most wonderful ways; he was also a loyal company man who worked most of his life for British United Shoe Machinery.But when ...moreAn industry with distinctive material riches, unable to sufficiently convert them into finished goods in a world class way“The project’s purpose,” said Courtney Grant, “is to be a robust, evidence-based strategy to address the leather and general goods sector’s challenges and unlock its growth potential.”The main headings of her presentation were:Creating the groundwork for a National Leather and General Goods Strategy:Fro ...more
Leather Industry Articles
- African leather businesses holding LWG and SLF ratingsAs African leather manufacturers strive to grow their exports, the number which have qualified for ratings by the Leather Working Group (LWG) and the Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF) is growing.By country, LWG lists the following:Algeria: Sarl Tannerie Ain FakrounBurkina Faso: Mona Industry SARL.Egypt: El Montaza Tannery, Piel Color C ...moreKenya announces $39 million investment to strengthen livestock productionKenya plans to launch a 5 billion-shilling ($38.6 million) investment program to modernize its livestock sector and strengthen one of the country's most important rural industries.President William Ruto announced the initiative on June 1 during a visit to Wajir County in northern Kenya.According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the program ...moreMobilising Africa’s human resource to reinvigorate the regional leather value chainIn last month’s edition I wrote about mobilising Africa’s livestock to reinvigorate the regional leather value chain, and this article is focussed on mobilising the human resource that is needed to make the most of the abundant livestock populations in the region.On Friday 12th June, newly organised SARLEN (Southern African Re ...more
PPE Industry Articles
- China-made firefighting equipment now needs verification of conformity with SANS standardsPretoria, Gauteng, SA – Firefighting equipment is among the 25 product categories published on 01 April by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition for a mandatory Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) Programme.The system will require certain goods shipped from China to be tested and certified before they enter the ...moreRealPPE Marketplace: Where safety meets smarter procurementRealPPE Marketplace is a 100% black women-owned B2B PPE marketplace built for South African industry. Founded after years of witnessing safety officers and procurement teams lose time to fragmented suppliers, inconsistent pricing, and missing documentation, RealPPE was created to bring structure and reliability to industrial PPE sourcing. ...moreNew OHS regulations coming into force later this year mean PPE needs to be reviewed, tooIn March 2025, the Physical Agents Regulations (and their guidelines) and the Noise Exposure Regulations (and their guidelines) of the OHSAct were published, with an 18-month time-period promulgation date to September 2026, allowing employers time to upgrade their Health & Safety requirements to comply with the new published regulatio ...more





