The second day of Freiberg Leather Days 2026 conference focused on practical solutions for the leather industry's future, with presentations covering PFAS regulation, sustainable processing technologies, chemical compliance, digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI).
PFAS under the spotlight
The morning opened with a session on PFAS (forever chemicals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), with Dr Martin Kleban (VDL) outlining the latest regulatory developments, Nadja Dittrich (FILK Freiberg Institute) reviewing the challenges of PFAS analysis and testing methods, and Michael Franken (TFL Group) presenting alternatives to PFAS-based leather finishing products.
Sustainable processing research
Sara Cuadros from the Universitat de Lleida’s A3 Leather Innovation Center presented two projects aimed at reducing the environmental impact of leather manufacture. First, she introduced the Bio-Dry project, which uses freeze-drying to stabilise collagen before tanning, while also presenting on behalf of Anna Bacardit, whose research into high-intensity light pulses provides a potential alternative to conventional chemical unhairing.
A presentation from Cromogenia Units followed, with research shared into polymeric fatliquors designed to deliver tailored leather performance.
Chemical compliance and waste recovery
Angelika Duckenfield (AQC) highlighted the benefits of industry collaboration in chemical compliance, explaining how shared quality assurance programmes can help manufacturers meet increasingly complex regulatory requirements more efficiently.
Later presentations covered the influence of crosslinker chemistry on automotive leather finishes (GSC Group), developments in leather processing and wastewater treatment in Asia (Dr Sengoda Gounder Rajamani), and Trumpler Spain’s Jordi Escabrós’ research into recovering collagen from leather waste for reuse in retanning and agricultural biostimulants.
Digital technologies and AI
The afternoon focused on digitalisation across the leather value chain. Dr Ulrike Straßburger (FILK) presented wireless sensors for real-time process monitoring, while Roberto Mastrotto (Wega) discussed traceability systems beyond conventional leather measurement.
James Bayly (Mindhive Global) demonstrated how verified hide data can be linked from wet-blue through to finished leather, while Corrado Capolupi (Brevetti CEA) showed how automated inspection of the flesh side can improve defect detection.
The conference concluded with Johannes Lukas Höhne (Dr Schenk), who compared standardised AI grading with customer-specific artificial intelligence models, arguing that tailored datasets can provide manufacturers with a valuable competitive advantage.
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