French tanner Klaus Folberth passes away
COTANCE mourns the loss of Mr Klaus Arno Folberth. Together with his Italian and Spanish colleagues, Adolfo Mattirolo (MESI, IT) and Silvino Navarro (INCUSA, ES), he managed the rebirth of the European Tanners' organisation in the late 1980ies. Klaus Folberth passes away at age 95 after a life dedicated to the European leather industry.
CEO of the Varces tannery, he took over in 1978 the lead of Nouvelle Tanneries Françaises (NTF), in the French city of Puy-en-Velay which became under his direction the famous calf leather factory "Tanneries Du Puy".
Klaus Folberth was a member of the COTANCE Presidency from 1989 to 1992, and President of the association for four years between 1992 and 1996. During his mandate, at the time of the Jacques Delors Commission, COTANCE produced significant results for the European Leather Industry. It was the time of the completion of the European Single Market, the first leather authenticity rules at EU level in the form of the EU Footwear Labelling Directive, the first BREF for tanneries in the context of the IPPC, the precursor of the industrial emissions directive, etc.
Furthermore, Klaus Folberth fought for free & fair trade at international level and the elimination of export restrictions on hides & skins in countries well engaged in the global trade in leather. With him, COTANCE also started developing activities in the improvement of the quality of raw hides and skins.
Finally, under his lead, the association also achieved a novel Commission budget allocation for export promotion, which led to the organisation by COTANCE of a number of highly successful projects in Japan, China, Mexico, Miami and Hong Kong.
COTANCE expresses its deepest condoleances to his family.