Would you have gotten away with it like mango?

Mango, a well-known fash fashion chain founded in 1984 in Barcelona, ​​acquires fame on the Spanish news following an exposè by Acexpiel, the Spanish Assopelletteri to be clear.

The straw that broke the camel's back was a pair of sandals, or rather the description that the brand had placed on its online shop and that did not escape the authorized personnel.

For convenience, I have brought you the product page in English and in the right column you will find the composition of the faulty upper: recycled cowhide.

Obviously, this wording made insiders cock their ears, who defined it as a "meaningless description” and above all that does not take into account the European regulations on the labeling of footwear products.

But this is not the problem: in fact Acexpiel wanted to see clearly and bought a pair of these sandals which it then sent to the Inescop research and test center to have them analyzed.

Imagine their astonishment when the result of the analysis arrived: the material used was not leather but bonded leather; but it's not over. The news started to circulate in the sector so much that that Dr Kerry Senior, the president of Leather UK, the trade association of the English leather goods industries, formally requested to Mango team to know the true composition of the product and the answer made his blood run cold “Eco-leather”.

Eco-leather doesn't mean a shit.

Eco-leather is the name that crafty people give to synthetics or leather derivatives of little value, but few know that in June of this year a decree was published, which will officially enter into force at the end of October, which prohibits its use. Using the term eco-leather is forbidden!

In this case Mango was asked to change the description and to be more careful, but we know that if it happens to us they would not be so kind.

If you've seen the video I posted on YouTube on Monday you already know what you might expect, otherwise keep reading.

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As much as one may believe in people's good faith, the reasons that may have led Mango to use this term are two:

• Ignorance

• Bad faith

I honestly don't know which is worse.

Bad faith because people are inclined to consider a leather product to be of greater value than one that is not; in addition, the "eco" theme that is deduced from "recycled" rides the ecological wave that has been spreading in recent years.

Ignorance because the person who wrote the description simply does not know the difference between the different types of leather.

What if the same mistake happens to you?

Obviously in your case we are not talking about bad faith, or at least not about your bad faith, but about your belts supplier.

In fact, if he shows you a material, can you recognize it with a glance? Or with a touch?

No, and it could happen to anyone, even the most skilled, because the problem is that nowadays the crafty ones have specialized so much in the production of "copy" materials that it is impossible to distinguish them.

But try to think what would happen if a client of yours were to sue you because his belt breaks. Or if he should even just make an exposè to the trade associations.

The belt would be analyzed by specialized centers and the response would leave you no way out. And at that's when it'll get ugly.

His mistake for your company translates into an administrative penalty from a minimum of € 1500 to a maximum of € 20,000, but it would not end there. The blame would also fall on the shops that bought the belts with your brand and for them the penalty ranges from € 700 to € 3500. For every store.

And who do you think they will win back on? About your company.

And who will your manager take it out on? On you.

You can let off steam about your supplier, but what alternatives do you have but to change it?

You could ask him to pay for all the damages he did to you, but he would probably never pay it back until after lengthy and expensive lawsuits.

And bear in mind that the penalties apply even if ALL the compositions of the belt are not indicated on the label or on the badge.

You got it right, all of them.

In fact, if the belt has a bonded lining and an upper layer in leather, we cannot speak of a genuine leather belt; it will be a leather and bonded leather belt.

It's like when you go to a restaurant and you order a plate of tagliatelle with white truffle from Alba: when the waiter hands you the steaming dish, you expect to see the truffle, right?

What if they only put truffle flavored oil?

It is not quite the same. And the same goes for belts and more generally leather products, although unfortunately there is still a lot, too much confusion on this issue.

Consider that the false myth that if 51% of the belt is made of leather it is possible to label it as real leather continues to circulate among many of my colleagues. And obviously how did they use this to their advantage? They made the upper layer in leather, the lower one in bonded leather, identical in appearance to the leather but with an infinitely lower value, and then they added a leather belt loop. And so they reached 51%. Smart them.

And stupid me that on every belt I put the whole list, multilingual.

And they also think they are getting away with it, being smart: but when they get discovered, they lose the customer and their reputation, what was the point?

I prefer to work honestly with my clients, without shrewdness and without being top of the class because, let's face it, the top of the class have always been unpleasant.

All I care about is that my clients are safe and have no problems; as I also told you in previous articles I see all my clients as collaborators, as a team.

If you go to the bottom I go to the bottom too, but if you win, I win too.

And I prefer you to have as few thoughts as possible, also because with your hectic work and the many suppliers you have to worry about you don't have much time to spend on belts.

This is why my team and I have put into practice a precise working method, the result of thirty years of experience, which is divided into three phases:

1. STUDY

The first step of our journey is to get to know each other; it is a fundamental step that allows me to understand if I can take responsibility for your production or not.

In this first phase of study it will be essential for me to understand whether:

• You are a target customer

• If the product you intend to make is on target

• If your timing is in tune with mine

This is a fundamental phase because it allows me to understand if you are the right customer for me, to whom I can guarantee my work 100%.

2. DEVELOPMENT

After the study phase, which represents the fundamental step of our path, we can move on to the development of your project.

In this phase we will carry out together:

• Analysis of the price ranges

• Analysis of materials and colors

• Analysis of accessories and galvanics

• Style analysis

• Packaging analysis (box, packaging, labels, barcode, etc.)

• Analysis of prototype and production times

• Analysis of sizes with relative parameters

• Analysis of customizations (stamps and molds)

• Development of samples and prototypes

This analysis phase allows you to have a sample in hand that respects the price range, quality of raw materials and the identity of your brand.

It is clear that when these three things coincide, the sales campaign of your agents or stores will have great benefits.

3. PRODUCTION

The third and last phase is that of the production of your collection according to the methods and times agreed in the development phase.

Before starting production, you will receive an order confirmation and a call from our sales manager who will have checked the delivery times of all the essential components for your order:

• Leathers

• Accessories

• Packaging

• Customizations

Upon receipt of the production materials, if necessary, we will send an additional confirmation sample with the production materials. Usually this practice is used when using some full grain vegetable tanned leathers, which can have a slight variance from batch to batch.

This allows your quality control to always have an actual prototype in their hands and therefore a very fluid work both for them and for you, that you have to manage all the processes. You will always be assured of smooth work without irritating hitches in your day.

But it does not end here, before shipping we will carry out the same quality control that will then be carried out in your company, as a further guarantee of correspondence of the products and fluidity of work.

About a week after receiving the leather goods, our sales manager will contact you to check that everything went well and that you are satisfied with the work done, as we expect.

As you can see, we leave nothing to chance: we want you not to worry about the production of the belts once we have started our collaboration.

And, as I also mentioned above, to remove even the smallest pebble from the shoe we also offer you our guarantee.

Now the choice is yours. Will you continue to dream of your ideal supplier or are you ready to have one for real?

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