Fifteen permanent hires, with further technical roles to be filled over the course of 2026. Volfoni is growing and recruiting. The tannery business (part of the Chanel group) was founded in Ponte a Egola (San Miniato) through a partnership between Volpi Concerie, Tannerie Haas and Campelli. “The production facility is ready, and we hope to reach full production in the first quarter of 2026”, says CEO Leonardo Volpi. “We have hired 15 young people through our in-house training programme, M’Astri Nascenti, and by the end of the year we will add a further five to ten employees”.

The fifteen hires

For recruitment, Volfoni organised dedicated training courses in collaboration with PoTeCo (the Leather Technology Hub) in Santa Croce sull’Arno. The training programme enabled the company to select two groups of 15 trainees. “Everyone completed a month of training”, Volpi explains. “From those 30 young candidates, we selected around 15, all of whom were confirmed and have now been working with us for about a year”. These are technical and operational roles, alongside a chemical technician recruited through a university selection process.

The biodigester

In addition to the construction of the new production site, which is nearing completion, another recent development is the environmental approval granted by the Tuscany Region for the construction of a biodigester. “It is a completely new plant, designed together with leading suppliers of tannery equipment”, Volpi explains. “Its aim is to recover all the organic matter contained in wastewater and organic by-products, producing biogas that will then be used to power a cogenerator, which in turn will generate electricity and hot water”.

Volfoni’s goal

“The production facility is ready and we are getting under way”, the entrepreneur adds. “The investment has a strong environmental and sustainability purpose — that is what has driven the Volfoni project. Producing wet blue, or wet white if required, on bovine and ovine hides, but doing so in an innovative way”.

Photo: LinkedIn