Gustavo Adrian Defeo appointed to lead Europe’s leather standards committee

Gustavo Adrian Defeo has been appointed to chair CEN TC 289, Europe’s leather standards committee, after a ballot that gave him 14 votes in favor and took effect on June 9, 2026. His six-year term runs through June 2032. The committee covers terminology, sampling, test methods, requirements and characteristics for raw hides and skins, tanned hides and skins, and finished leather, while footwear and footwear components sit under a separate CEN committee.

That scope makes the job unusually important for tanneries, brands and technical suppliers. CEN is one of the three European Standardization Organizations recognized by the EU and EFTA for voluntary standards development, so the chair of TC 289 sits close to the rules that shape how leather is described, tested and compared across European markets.

Defeo brings a deep technical profile to the post. He is an Italian-Argentine chemist with 42 years of experience as a consultant, researcher and specialist in color physics, and he is already chairman of CEN TC 289 WG7, the working group for physical and fastness tests. He also chairs IULTCS IUF and IULTCS IUP, the international commissions for leather fastness tests and physical and mechanical tests, and serves as convenor of CEN TC 289/WG7. IULTCS says those commissions and the CEN working groups meet together so identical leather test methods can be published as IULTCS, ISO and EN standards.

That overlap matters on the bench. If the same test method can move cleanly between CEN, ISO and IULTCS, the industry gets less duplication in lab work and fewer mismatches in terminology or results when hides, finishes and finished leather are specified for different markets. Defeo has said his priorities include revising existing EN standards to reflect advances in chemistry and methodology, strengthening coordination with ISO/TC 120, supporting recognition of leather’s bio-based credentials with CEN TC 411, and widening outreach to industry, research institutions and regulators.

The handover also follows the retirement of Gustavo Gonzalez-Quijano, Defeo’s predecessor. TC 289 already oversees a dense library of published standards, including chemical-test methods for chromium VI, formaldehyde, azo colorants, metals, preservatives and tannery chemicals. With traceability work moving through EN 18199 and sustainability claims under closer scrutiny, the committee’s next chair will shape not just paperwork but the quality signals that travel with leather from the tannery floor to the supplier label.