Enrico Gastaldello talks about the current commercial and productive challenges that the Veneto-based chemical tanning industry is facing

SYN-BIOS SpA is one of the spearheads of the Italian tanning chemical industry, a company that, over the years, has built a reputation for absolute reliability, recognized even at an international level.

A company that has always promoted sustainable chemistry by developing innovative, effective, and safe products, the result of business processes which respect the environment and workers’ health. SYN-BIOS SpA was founded in 1988 by Daniele Gastaldello, still President, the helm of the Montebello Vicentino-based company is now in the skilled hands of his son Enrico, who leads its strategic and commercial choices with determination and foresight. In this interview, SYN-BIOS’ Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer comments on the current market situation and outlines the new challenges which the company is ready to face, based on the strength of the consolidated work done so far and the constant implementation of  utting-edge products in terms of quality and sustainability.

2024 proved to be a challenging year for the tanning industry. What is the situation for SYN-BIOS?

“There is obviously no shortage of daily difficulties, however considering the market background we are experiencing, we certainly cannot complain about the results on the whole, which remain in line. It is also true that these days we have to multiply our efforts to achieve the same targets as before.

The marketplace is becoming more demanding, customers require more attention, and, in my opinion, the personal relationship with the customer, with direct and human contact, has grown to be essential again.”

What core markets are you presently targeting?

“Our presence extends across all the largest tanning centers worldwide. In particular, Europe, Africa, India, the Far East countries and South America, with a special focus on Brazil, where we established a warehouse to ensure prompt deliveries to the local clients.”

You recently revealed a significant distribution agreement with an Indian company. What are your goals?

“This is an exclusive partnership with Pidilite Industries, one of India’s largest companies, not only in the chemical tanning industry, but a pioneer in the Indian chemical sector, which will distribute our products in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. This is a very ambitious task of which we are particularly proud; it will permit us to build a widespread presence throughout that geographical area.

The most recent news concerns the distribution of SYN-BIOS-branded products in the United States through a historical company such as Atlas Refinery.”

SYN-BIOS has been among the first companies in the industry to obtain Level 3 ZDHC Certification, the maximum provided by the “Roadmap to Zero” program aimed at eliminating the chemical risk. What is your evaluation of this experience?

“Very positive, in all senses; we started the certification journey during the forced hiatus imposed by the pandemic in 2020, and we successfully concluded it after one and a half years, exactly in September 2021. We are very proud of this, due to the fact that achieving Level 3 of ZDHC Certification from the outset has been very challenging in terms of procedures implementation, resources usage, and economic investment.

Undoubtedly, this attempt has helped attain other goals as well. We have grown on an overall general level as a company because this path encouraged us to figure out what our strengths already are and what aspects need to be improved instead. Today we are an even more structured and efficient company than before.”

How much does this type of Certification count in the marketplace?

“It matters more than what we initially thought it would. Nowadays, certain customers, mainly those tanneries that work with fashion brands or for the high-end automotive sector – so the entire high-segment of the market – consider the Certification a prerequisite to being capable to work with them. It has been therefore essential to having uploaded our products to ZDHC Gateway from the beginning, so that their overall performance was made public. With this tool, we demonstrate to customers worldwide that we have adopted a safer chemical management. At present, we uploaded approximately 500 products, which I think is an outstanding result.”

SYN-BIOS supplies products for both finishing and wetend, but the market has usually identified you primarily for pigments….

“We have a product portfolio capable of satisfying every kind of use and price range, however pigments certainly continue to be our flagship, as is well known; in this specific area, we honestly fear no one with regard to quality, service, and product safety. In recent years, we have successfully released very unique series consisting of “METAL-FREE” and “NIR Technology”. This latter is a family of IR reflective pigments for the automotive high-level sector, which contributes to maintaining the leather of the seats and, consequently, the interior of the car from overheating.”

What is the focus of research today? What are the main challenges from your point of view?

“Nowadays the industry undertakes you to mainly produce chemical auxiliaries needed for tanning and leather finishing using raw materials from renewable sources, ideally waste from the agri-food sector, thus responding to a circular economy logic.

Many of our products already boast a very high percentage of raw material content from renewable sources. The challenge now is to flank existing products with a solution with the highest possible bio-based content: a truly ambitious plan. Indeed, it is necessary to search and select new raw materials from biomasses, which represent powerful alternatives to the ones currently used. It is a matter of an immense amount of studies and testing that requires a great commitment and resources investment, but which we consider indispensable to enhancing the field sustainability profile.”