As a market leader in specialty chemicals, Stahl continuously strives to meet all client’s needs. To achieve this Stahl has Centers of Excellence, application
labs and testing facilities all over the world. In 2016 a dedicated Center of Excellence for shoes and leather goods was opened in Castelfranco di Sotto, Italy. A logical decision as Italy is still the most important example to the rest of the world, when it comes to fashion and leather craftsmanship. At this center the Stahl provides tailor-made solutions for the entire leather production process from raw hides to finish and aftercare.

The center is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery to cater to customer’ needs. The in-house applications enables Stahl to create solutions that meet even the most critical and specific customer’s demands. In performance, sustainability and style.

Key solutions and services for the footwear industry include:

• STAHL EVO: next generation polyurethane coatings for synthetics including STAHL EVO base Permutex® mechanical foam and PermaQure®. This product range does not contain any toxic classified substances and offer the performance leading brands are used to.
• Color Matching Standard Service: a seven steps formulation service to a perfect color match for leather within two weeks.
• Stahl Neo: portfolio of compliant and sustainable leather finishes. Launched in 2016, the product line offers products that not only already comply with Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Manufacturing Restricted Substanc
  es List (MRSL), but even go beyond this standard, targeting an even wider range of chemical substances.
• Shoe and Leather Care:our aftercare product range aims to protect the leather and shield it by creating an invisible breathable barrier that enhances stain resistance and easy cleaning. The comprehensive range contains products for cleaning, protection, refinishing and repairing for shoes. Products include basecoats and topcoats, creams and protection products, cleaners and preps and Edge ink.
• Stahl Easy Crust: a dye staining product to create almost limitless colors whilst combining sustainability with an easy application. Easy Crust allows users to minimize their stocks, whilst giving extreme flexibility. Watch the ‘how to apply’ video:

Sustainable leather
Since several years there is an increasing demand for high-quality leather that is sustainable at the same time. Stahl helps tanners to meet this demand with Proviera® – Probiotics for Leather™: solutions for the beamhouse that contain a powerful consortium of biochemicals derived from probiotics. Using this unique probiotic formulation, tanners are able to produce high-quality leather, whilst reducing the effluent load significantly. The Stahl EasyWhite Tan™ tanning system enables the creation of high-quality leather for footwear without compromising product quality and usability. It enables tanners to produce all types of metal-free leather to meet standard leather product specifications and more.

Stahl Campus^®
Stahl also shares its knowledge with footwear designers (to be), manufactures and brands via Stahl Campus^®. At this knowledge center with locations in the Netherlands, Mexico and China, Stahl experts give training about leather and performance coatings for synthetics & textiles with the overall goal to achieve a more sustainable future. All training programs are tailor-made in conjunction with the students and vary from sessions of few hours to multiple days.

For more information about Stahl Campus^® please contact Global Stahl Campus^® Manager Frans van den Heuvel for leather related requests or Alexander Schieke for Performance Coatings (Synthetics & Textiles) related requests. For more information visit www.stahl.com.