Friday March 29th, 2024
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Egyptian Leather Giant Leopelle Teams Up With Italy's Conceria Ascot

While Leopelle is known for coating sofas with scintillating leathers, the leather giant is partnering up with a household Italian leather manufacturer to make shiny fabric for fashion designers.

Karim Abdullatif

Egyptian Leather Giant Leopelle Teams Up With Italy's Conceria Ascot

Remember those brightly coloured fabrics with metallic reflections that blew up in the early 1970s? Laminated leathers are coming back to the local design scene and it’s thanks in no small part to Egyptian leather manufacturing giant Leopelle, which has partnered up with Conceria Ascot, an Italian leather manufacturing brand, to bling up leathers for fashion designers in Egypt.


“We’re collaborating to exchange expertise and introduce a new material for young fashion designers,” Ahmed El Gabbas, Leopelle’s Managing Director, tells SceneStyled. “The partnership will offer laminated leathers to be used for everything from heels and jackets to totes. This is the first of its kind partnership between the Egyptian and Italian leather industries. It’s been a long time in the works, and required a lot of trust to flow both ways.”


Conceria Ascot was founded in 1961 by Enrico Brucini, who grew up in the Tuscan countryside and became one of the very first producers to create laminated leathers in his refinery. Their laminates were worn by Princess Fabiola of Belgium during her wedding, and are exhibited at the New York Museum of Contemporary Art.


“We aren’t only targeting the Egyptian market but also the Italian, as we’re planning to export products manufactured in Egypt by 2023,” El Gabbas adds. The partnership will be under Leopelle’s operations, with orders coming through to Egypt and then exported to Italy and beyond.


Leopelle has been producing leathers for sofas and wall claddings, and while they did work with the likes of Ahmed Hamdy and Okhtein delivering fabrics for clothing and bags, El Gabbas knew it was time to properly expand into fashion.


The current generation of Conceria Ascot, Daniele and Fabio Brucini, viewed Egypt as an excellent opportunity to join forces with Leopelle, which has over 100 years of experience in the field. From there they strive to collaborate and launch laminated leather wonders in the Egyptian market, leaving young designers with a new material to work with.