Osmo Htf, a history of innovation and success

It is a prestigious group with headquarters in Arzignano that is featured in the first 2024 issue of Tannery International. Composed of two companies, Osmo (founded in 2006 by Andrea Piazza, Fabrizio Nicoletti and Ludovico Massignan) and HTF (since 2012 with Paolo Armelli), it is a combination that has become an international reference point in the leather industry for years.
It is a great success story of the Arzignano (Vicenza) group, in the most important tanning district in the world, a leader in the production and sale of technical chemicals and dyes for the tanning sector, but whose role goes beyond the entrepreneurial and production context. In fact, it is a constantly evolving economic reality, seeking a combination of personnel, technologies and processes aimed at achieving excellence, which is indispensable for not losing competitiveness in the new global economy. It is capable, very often, of arriving ahead of the competition in the challenges of an increasingly demanding and selective market, where, in addition to quality, the use of environmentally friendly substances and the timeliness of being able to respond to customer requests, which include major tanning groups, is fundamental.
The two industries guarantee the complete process: Osmo concentrates on the first phase, which goes from raw to dyed crust, by virtue of its strong expertise in dyes, while HTF (an acronym for High Technology Finishing) specialises in leather processing and deals with the finishing phase, which the company has developed by perfecting water-based fixing techniques, creating a range of ready-to-use products for any product.
Currently, the group, which counts on a staff of 30 people, 28 of whom are technicians, almost all chemistry graduates, is located on four different sites, three in the industrial area of Arzignano and one in Castelfranco di Sotto (Pisa), for a total of about 5,000 square metres. The site in Tuscany, which serves companies in the leather district of Santa Croce sull’Arno, is independent, with a plant of about 500 square metres, equipped with a well-stocked warehouse, a laboratory with tumblers and spraying lines.
“All of us members are university graduates with different specialisations,” begins Andrea Piazza, born in 1971, the oldest of the group, “but above all we come from different paths in the leather sector, which distinguish us and represent the real strength of Osmo. We have had a long apprenticeship, we didn’t start out as product salesmen, we are chemists with all-round experience in the tannery, where we have managed from the wet department to finishing, to which we added other personal skills, such as sales and purchasing office aspects. All this provided us with the basis, once the company was set up, to interact with tanners speaking the same language. We know the needs of entrepreneurs and technicians well. We partners are all from Vicenza, excellent connoisseurs of the Arzignano leather district, and we decided to get back into the game with the idea of proposing a new approach to the traditional way of processing leather.”
What was the initial project?
“The one that was eventually realised, which is representative of the current business reality: was to create a chemical company that was different from those already operating on the market, by proposing technical solutions, not limited to only selling products. In other words, we wanted to be a company capable of providing technical support to the tannery, which is why we immediately invested in research and development. In 2026 we will celebrate 20 years of activity, but we remain a young and dynamic company, created in a mature and super- competitive market: that is why we have been able to be different in order to find our space. We were born with the aspiration of being unique, with the purpose of becoming active partners, going beyond the concept of supplier. With the will to be pioneers, always ahead of our time, in everything we do there is an eye on the future, aware that every goal achieved is just a stage in an exciting race that continues.”
How do you describe your daily work?
“The fact that we are always facing new challenges, which is a perquisite of the millennial leather industry: the aesthetic challenge to continue to inspire the creativity of design, the quality challenge with the proposal of ever higher performance leathers, and the challenge of sustainability of both products and processes. Osmo HTF shares these objectives, even the most audacious ones, with a shared mentality, participation and the sensitivity of a partnership, faced all together with courage, determination, passion and technique. Working in the tannery for years, we, as partners, recognised the requirements of entrepreneurs, and once we moved to the other side, our work was made easier. To produce a product you start from the raw hide, and then to progress and especially in the drying phase you need technique: Fabrizio (Nicoletti, ed.) in his previous job worked for over a year in this specific task. He had seen an average of 4,000 hides a day being dried, his experience was fundamental to the business.”
How do you approach the Italian and foreign markets?
“Through the professionalism and expertise of the partners, who have brought within the group a direct knowledge of the sector and all its peculiarities, processes and difficulties. This experience, added to that accumulated over almost two decades of activity, in which there have been numerous changes in the industry. This allowed us to carefully assess the industrial sustainability of the solutions proposed, adapting to the needs of the production plans of our clients. From the districts of Arzignano and Santa Croce sull’Arno, our market has expanded to include a good part of Europe and various countries in Asia and other continents. Leather goods, footwear, car refinishing and premium furniture are the final destinations.”
Is there a secret to the entrepreneurial challenges you face?
“The ability to always challenge ourselves and never settle, even if it depends on the sector: for example the automotive sector is more conformist, it has defined standards, while for footwear, leather goods and furniture, has changing fashions and products. Almost every day you have to produce a new article, especially when the designers of the various brands are replaced or moved roles, at which point you almost always have to redo the range from zero. In our industry, more than in any other, you can’t even stop for a few weeks, because you risk being left behind.
Why have you kept the two brands of the group separate?
“Considering that both of our companies represent a research and development laboratory for tanneries, the main explanation is related to the fact that HTF, where we can count on an extra partner, started six years after Osmo and the finishing part has little in common with the wet phase as well as the contacts are often different. In fact, even after the union we have never thought of bringing the two companies together, we want each one to be independent and follow its own intuition. Obviously on a commercial level, where Osmo operates there is the possibility of including HTF and vice versa: the paths often intersect, but there are also different clients. Many years later we can say that the strategy has paid off.”
Apart from the Research and Development Centre, in what other areas do you invest the most?
“We work in the fashion industry and are very focused on the image we want to convey. We create exclusive gadgets that are always in great demand, we do sponsorships both for events or to support minor sports clubs and for training: in the laboratories of the technical schools in Arzignano, all the white coats have the Osmo inscription. Another area in which we have always invested heavily concerns company welfare; we care about our employees and their families, whom we support with various initiatives.
Now that we can speak in the past tense, what did the Covid period provoke?
“The work standstill affected the entire economy in Europe and much of the world, but companies in our district suffered equally. In the end, the market was ‘drugged’, even though there were differences between sectors: the main example is that in 2020, even with two full months of stoppage, the furniture industry had a higher turnover than in 2019, also due to the increase in prices. In general, 2021 and 2022 were boom years, due to distorted consumption and the desire of people to buy after the pandemic, while the drop in 2023 was due to the exaggerated growth of the previous two years.”
Apart from the product, where does Osmo HTF win?
“Starting from the assumption that the competition is strong and growing, our priority is fast turnaround times. Two examples: if a client calls me at 11 o’clock in the evening, I answer my mobile phone, and if an urgent consignment of skins is brought to us on Friday evening, we are able to deliver it on Monday morning, working Saturday and Sunday if necessary. Few other companies proceed with this pace and availability. What is important is the result you get in terms of quality, but then you have to be able to transfer it quickly according to requirements: to put it in sports jargon, ‘he who is fast wins’. Another strong point is that starting from the initial project as a technical company of chemical products, with time we have managed to make ourselves known and appreciated as articulate developers, an increasingly pressing need for tanneries”.

www.osmo.it www.htfsrl.it

From the left: Paolo Armelli, Ludovico Massignan, Fabrizio Nicoletti e Andrea Piazza

Offering the market products with a low environmental impact is one of the main missions of Osmo HTF, products designed by a team specialised in refining processes for leather processing, a technical service that aims to solve the performance problems of articles but also to raise awareness and guide companies towards production processes with a reduced Ludovico Massignan environmental impact. In an industrial sector whose origins go back centuries, the new renewed ecological sensitivity is radically changing the way leather is processed, and the Arzignano group is an integral part of this change.
“We were one of the first companies in the leather sector,” assures Ludovico Massignan, born in 1981, “to decide to take a complicated but above all economically demanding path linked to sustainable products. Our slogan is not a self-referential slogan, the facts speak for themselves. Through the research of Osmo, we have worked for several years to obtain a worldwide recognised patent, then filed in 2015, known as CosmoWhite®, a registered trademark that identifies the process. The system makes it possible to proceed with the processing of leather without metals, free of bisphenols and with a guaranteed biodegradability of over 90%. During the working cycle, the leather does not emit toxic and phytotoxic substances, but at the same time it guarantees high quality standards, with the same performance as leather obtained through a traditional process.”
How instrumental has this project been?
“CosmoWhite®, which cannot be reproduced or copied, has been able to be ahead of its time, now the entire tanning sector is moving in this direction. This will increasingly be the case in the future, as it represents a concrete response to the needs of a constantly evolving market and the increasingly stringent regulations on environmental impact. It certainly represents the ultimate embodiment of our company philosophy, constantly balancing productivity and sustainable innovation.”
In calling yourselves pioneers, can you remind us of the key dates?
“We started thinking about sustainability at the time of the founding of the Osmo brand, when there was still no need in the fashion world, at that time someone hinted at some hypothesis but it seemed like a flight of fancy. We understood this need, which then, against the backdrop of costly investments, led us to the decisive turning point: between 2012 and 2013, rumours began to circulate about the desire of brands to arrive at metal-free leather, but we were in the early days, while a few years later a path began with possible expiry dates for regulations at European level, which in reality then slipped over the years. In the study undertaken by our technical staff, we carried out the first research, discovering certain raw materials, which allowed us to create a range of products capable of guaranteeing that the leather would perform in the production of a high quality and sustainable product.”
What were the major difficulties and obstacles?
“It was precisely the search for raw materials and the study of the right chemistry to use. Having found the unifying trait between these two components, we created and launched the products onto the market, an ambitious goal given that over the years we have seen so many trials and attempts by other chemical companies to produce alternative concepts, but without the desired result. We put these small pieces together, always with the aim of a product that could be used by big names and high fashion: at that point we were certain that we did not just have a metal-free leather but could achieve much more, hence the desire to push for a patent. Once we had obtained and started up the system, we realised that we were ahead of our time: considering the time period, it was probably too extreme, it was hard for a tanner to consider it interesting even at that time.”
We can imagine therefore that your project remained in the drawer, waiting for better times….
“That’s right. At an edition of Lineapelle trade fair in Milan 6 years ago, we prepared all yellow CosmoWhite® biodegradable leathers for a tannery, with samples of bags and shoes, but despite the great novelty and the excitement, it was not as successful as we had hoped. However, we continued to develop the project, the tanneries started to make tentative plans, and last year the market looked at the project again with real interest, arriving at the volumes we had hypothesised and hoped for. A substantial investment in research and development that did not immediately pay off, but we now have the security that at a technical and articulation level our system boasts a step ahead of the competition. Moreover, after the bisphenol issue recently came to light, we proceeded with the patent update, guaranteeing a leather that is not only free of heavy metals, biodegradable and does not emit toxic and phytotoxic substances, but is now also bisphenol-free. We are clearly superior because we have been researching for ten years: no one can claim such developed and accurate work.
You are therefore effectively forerunners….
“We cannot know at what point the research of others was, but at the time there had been a hint of changes to current legislation, and we had already produced a new range of tannins, free of bisphenols. It is only by anticipating the times as we have done in this area that there is a chance to be competitive in the market and to propose sooner what will then become a compulsory choice. When we started with the biodegradable tests, there was still no legislation for leather, and not even a standard identifying biodegradable leather as waste: there was only an article in the ‘waste code’ awaiting an implementing regulation, which in the meantime had not yet been brought forward.
On a general level, how is the market receiving the input of this environmental revolution?
“There has been and still is confusion in the use of certain terminology: at recent international trade fairs, the slogan ‘biodegradable leather’ was displayed on numerous stands. Actually, when using this word, it would be better to specify what is meant, because in reality, a bit of everything is biodegradable, but it depends on the speed and how. The facts have shown that exceeding the 90% threshold, beyond which the product is no longer considered waste as it is compostable, is a very difficult goal to achieve, but we have succeeded. Conversely, the emission of toxic and phytotoxic substances occurs, with relative damage to the environment, in the case of chrome leather, which is 37% biodegradable, while vegetable tanned leather is around 60% biodegradable. More and more in the future, the level of biodegradability and the percentage of emissions developed along the way will be crucial.”
How much will regulations affect your work in the future?
“We always aim to be up to date, which is one of the strengths of the Research and Development Centre. It is also true that with the new regulations coming in, which are becoming more and more stringent, it will, of course, be more complicated and expensive for everyone to develop the work in the laboratory, because chemistry being a science, we currently operate with certain standards, while in the future it is conceivable there will be further limitations. We will not stop, the intention is to continue researching and developing new projects, raising the bar even higher as we have always done throughout our history. However, with an increasingly complex and costly business, it is imperative that the supply chain is supported not only at the local level.”
Who is your message addressed to?
“To all the components of the system, because investing so much and not being able to recuperate the economic effort put in, could lead to companies giving up on pursuing projects. The leather sector must be united and cohesive in supporting research: the chemical companies go ahead if they sell their products to the tanneries, which in turn make a living if they produce the leathers for the big names, consequently the subcontractors and allied industries can continue to carry out this activity. We are all tied to the same thread, we need to be intelligent in supporting ourselves adequately, perhaps with marketing campaigns at an international level. In the world there is a strong push towards alternative products to leather described as ‘vegan’ but in reality based on very highly polluting plastic materials synthesis, the sector has only recently begun to promote leather as a product of unparalleled charm and quality and completely sustainable as a waste product of the food industry. Globally, meat consumption is steadily increasing and hides need to be disposed of; it is necessary to invest in a sector that ensures circularity.”
What are your further plans for the environment?
“The Osmo HTF group uses a significant percentage of self-generated solar energy, our managers and technicians have been using hybrid and electric cars for years, which we charge in the columns installed at the entrance to the headquarters, in the departments there is great attention to waste disposal and energy consumption, and we have chosen production technologies with low energy consumption. In addition, the municipality of Arzignano has already approved the project, under the sign of maximum sustainability, which envisages the expansion of spaces with the installation of additional solar panels and a series of renovations, including the creation of a new factory, which we will probably build in 2025.”

www.osmo.it www.htfsrl.it

Ludovico Massignan

The Arzignano group has made constant technological innovation one of its top priorities, always proposing the best solutions and making itself appreciated on international markets not only for the high quality of its articles, but also for its constant commitment to promoting cutting-edge projects aimed at improving the performance of the leather sector. The two companies, Osmo and HTF, have developed a series of products and processes for wet- processing and finishing, with the added value of integral consultancy, from initial testing to after-sales assistance provided by technicians inside the tanneries.
Two technical staff deal specifically with the tanning and dyeing area. The focal point of this model is the Research and Development Centre, which is able to combine constantly updated skills with technologies and equipment that allow the entire tanning process to be precisely replicated. This represents the base camp of the Arzignano group, where intuition and data are compared to generate innovation: new products are created here, materials supplied by the customer are analysed and scientific support is offered to achieve the perfect result.
One of the core businesses is the application laboratory, which we visited together with one of the partners of the group, Fabrizio Nicoletti, born in 1978, an engineering graduate with a tanning background from the University of Padua, who accompanied us inside the Osmo HTF premises.
In the context of a laboratory with the latest digital technology run by updated professionals, how are technicians trained?
“When we started out, in the first decade of the 2000s, there was already a generational change in the figure of the technician, with younger graduates taking over. They come out of the institutes with a greater education than in the past, but who, at least for a few years, cannot guarantee the skills and above all the experience acquired over many years of work in the tannery compared to previous generations. This is why our role is fundamental, as we can provide leather industries with important support, helping entrepreneurs or their technicians, with whom we have an almost daily relationship, which we try to satisfy for all their needs”.
Digital control machines and automated and interconnected laboratory drums: what are the main advantages of these technologies?
“First and foremost, they ensure that the chemical company, ours in this case, can carry out processing and at the same time acquire data, which remains proprietary and is of significant value, as it allows the process to be repeated over time. The fact that everything is monitored, with the detection of other functions during the work cycle as well, such as the rotations and temperature of the barrels, in the event of an interruption during the night, it is possible to trace the precise moment when the stop occurred. Above all by detecting, even hours later, the anomaly that occurred. For the technicians, there is the possibility of intervening, finding the best solutions and improving the system as time goes by.”
Can we call what Osmo HTF has implemented a fundamental step towards the so-called tannery of the future?
“Absolutely, especially as tanning entrepreneurs will be able to manage this considerable amount of information for their business. Thanks to the tests accumulated in the laboratory over the last few years, we have a very significant historical background, which summarises a large number of individual processes. Then, once they are recorded in a mega-table or excel spreadsheet, it is possible to draw up an overall analysis, with the possibility of providing the client, who perhaps processes tons of raw material every week, with the advice and suggestions to be taken, as opposed to others.
How important is teamwork and how do you interpret it?
“We are a true cohesive team, all our employees recognise this value. This is something that we as partners have invested in and worked hard on, starting with ourselves, involving all employees in our principles, dedication, perseverance in seeking results, the will to go the extra mile, a sense of belonging and valuing the talents of individuals within shared work. Today we know we can count on a perfectly balanced team with a winning mentality, which puts heart and head into everything it does.”
Can you give us the main details of this facility, the core-business of the group?
“It is a fully automated tanning, retanning and dyeing laboratory, the only one of its kind in the world in the leather chemicals sector, in which ten tumblers work, equipped with an innovative, fully automatic dosing system for water and chemicals. They are in operation 7 days a week, 24 hours a day: this allows us to achieve up to 100 processes per week, with each process lasting an average of 24 hours, with a few exceptions. Our technicians can constantly control all the variables of the machining process, in particular time and temperature, and can count on high standards in terms of precision and application repeatability. Furthermore, the analysis laboratory, equipped with innovative equipment, performs all kinds of tests including product resistance to light and heat, tear and abrasion resistance, water repellency and many more. A true strategic outsourced R&D service for tanneries that goes beyond traditional service provision.
So, increased automation: what are the further advantages provided by this technology?
“Certainly the increase in production capacity, since the drums manage all processes in complete autonomy, up to the possibility of timely remote intervention, through detailed reports, to eliminate inefficiencies and waste, and reduce machine downtime. Through the funds linked to Industry 4.0, a partnership was set up with Pajusco Tecnologie, a well established company in Montebello Vicentino, which provided us with latest-generation drums, built specifically for the needs of our laboratory, which has therefore become a place of experimentation.
Can you tell us the main features of the project?
“The dosing system represents a revolutionary innovation for the sector. Prior to the start-up of our project, this automation was only used in tanneries, never in such a restricted and controlled environment where precision, reliability and meticulousness are priorities. Another fundamental prerogative is speed: we produce an average of 70 drums per week, no tannery can keep up this pace, generally they make 5-6, very often they do not have the time to develop this activity materially: even if they had an in-house laboratory with several employees, they would not have the possibility of doing such a complete job. In our case, on the other hand, we proceed with the development of the article, but in the event that the product has limitations, there is the possibility of intervening by modifying or integrating what is needed to achieve the objective.”
How is the application laboratory structured?
“As an interconnected industry, where all the components interface with each other: the entire process is monitored, there is an exchange of data with the warehouse, which has the dual function of serving the laboratory and the customers, with inputs and outputs displayed in real time. The moment the leather arrives from a client or a batch of raw material that we have purchased for research and testing, an entry check-in is carried out: this is followed by product identification to ascertain the owner, but also a series of significant data, such as the type of leather, weight, thickness, origin and what processing has been done previously. Once the operation to be carried out has been defined, the available drum is identified, which is divided into two categories: the smallest, where we load up to 30 kg, and the largest, where we load up to 60-70 kg. At that point, the process can be started”.
Can you explain how this works in detail?
“Assuming that all processing is automated, the liquid products are injected into the process after being detected and weighed, while the powder products are weighed on a specific scale. The technician, who has a report with the list of liquid and powder ‘ingredients’, has scan the barcode the product to be used with the gun. At that point, when the weighing is correct, the receipt comes out generating a QR code, which must be applied to the product: this is a compulsory operation, otherwise the process is not allowed to continue. If the wrong product is inadvertently picked up, the system does not recognise it and then warns the person who is proceeding.”
How are the 10 drums that you have utilised?
“If it is a test for a client, we have an obligation to deliver it as soon as possible, this type of operation takes precedence over all others. Processing for clients must always be planned through the work of our Research and Development Center, which always has full control over what happens inside the application laboratory. We always use Osmo HTF products for this type of processing to complement our company know-how. Another advantage, favored by modern technologies, is the possibility of remote control through tablets and smartphones. Through these tools we can interface directly with the individual drum and we can operate, proceeding to the stop, draining or taking water or simply for a general check.”

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Fabrizio Nicoletti

For the Osmo HTF Group, special attention has always been paid to the Research and Development Center, to which the largest investments are allocated. Part of this team, which is on average young and particularly motivated, is technician Giacomo Fracasso, whom as part of “A day with …,” we interviewed, inside the lab.
Our daily work is carried out over 360 degrees,” explains Fracasso, who has a long experience in the Veneto tanning industry, “each one of us does not have fixed tasks, but must be able to cover any role, therefore is an interchangeable element within the group. As for me, in addition to my daily commitment in the laboratory, I follow a shortlist of clients from a technical point of view. In the area of research and development, it is important to be able to come up with innovative products, as companies that process leather always need someone to assist them in the aspect of innovations to then propose on the market. Perhaps it may sound exaggerated, but tanneries need to be followed as if we were together with them in their departments: it often happens that we become their “detached rib,” in that we guarantee the contractor or their technicians important help that can make them stand out from the competition, in re-proposing the usual things we risk falling into the mundane. There is still a lot of room in this area of research, being able to propose different ideas at the level of products and processing. A good part of the tanneries in the Arzignano district work with brands and big names, which are always thirsty for new things, so in turn they must be able to respond creatively to incoming requests.”
We asked the Osmo HTF technician what the collaborative relationship between the two entities consists of. “It is inevitable that a constant direct line is created, with multiple reference figures, which are generally the plant manager or the technicians who follow the processing. Based on their needs and our potential, a meeting point between request and demand must always be found. There are daily visits to the tannery on our part, where we can compare and analyze various aspects, but sometimes these “summits” take place directly in our workshop.” There are well-defined characteristics that are required of technicians in a chemical company: what are they? Here is what he answered. “For us, the most important one,” Fracasso concludes, “is to be able to materialize what is promised; we generally always succeed, as we have an equipped staff and, above all, capable of solving any problem. Undoubtedly it is an important teamwork, each business or client must be helped and supported, managing to assist the commercial and technical parts, which is an intertwined work. Another key aspect is being able to develop the product quickly: you have to be fast, and we proudly have a laboratory, entirely managed by System 4.0, which on average produces 60 to 70 drums per week, this allows us to proceed at the same pace as a tannery and therefore keep up with them.”

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Giacomo Fracasso, Research and Development technician

Here is a sports soul at the heart of Osmo. “Great athletes, have a strong dedication to their work” point out the three partners Piazza, Massignan and Nicoletti, “we like to identify with great champions, beyond discipline or nationality. At the entrepreneurial level we want to think and act in this way, putting that strength of character and will that only the greats in sports can do. The motto “never give up,” which is typical in sports and football circles, we like to link it to our daily commitment, in a number of aspects that are, through hard work every day, tenacity, dedication, teamwork, and achieving new goals. Then when you are a little bit down, as it happens in any sports team, a partner comes along to help and support you. This is why we strongly believe in sports and its values, it is a similarity that always inspires us.”
One example of “team-building” is the incentive days, a combination of work, training and sports, that the Osmo HTF Group organizes regularly for its employees. The most recent was organized at the end of 2023, on December 16, in the mountain town of Asiago (Vicenza), with two training sessions in the morning in the meeting room of the Palaghiaccio and then in the afternoon in the meeting room of the Sporting Hotel. Speakers were engineer Paolo Marta for industrial aspects and Pier Bernardi, the latter specializing in the commercial sector, both of whom share a passion for rugby and yoga. Not only lectures during the day but also shared social moments, always with the aim of keeping the group united, including the light lunch and the evening aperitif that preceded the Asiago-Innsbruck ice hockey match, qualifying for the European ICE League tournament, won by the Vicenza team 7-4, which the Osmo team followed together from the PalaOdegar grandstand. The initiative, organized on a Saturday and therefore a weekend, was nevertheless attended by all employees, who were rewarded at the end with 4 hours of vacation time, to be enjoyed later during 2024.
Another connection with the world of sports concerns the link undertaken with an emerging discipline such as padel. In fact, the chemical company decided to sponsor a private club in the province of Vicenza (for example, the court windows or net supports have the OSMO & HTF branding, as well as the GADGET paddle covers made for its clients and collaborators) equipped with a number of courts, where in the summer of 2023 a day of celebration was organized for employees and their families. On that occasion, the clubhouse was rented out exclusively to allow everyone to try their hand at padel, including teachings and matches. Another opportunity to cement the group and bring out sporting values. A real OSMO & HTF tournament where group togetherness and joy won out.

www.osmo.it www.htfsrl.it