Responsibility. To the environment, but also to the value represented by Italian manufacturing. These are two aspects that guide the conduct of Industrie Chimiche Forestali, a company that is one of the reference operators at national and international level in the design, production and marketing of high-tech adhesives and textiles, which closed 2023 with a turnover of around 80 million euros.
"Despite the fact that 2023 was quite a turbulent year, which had repercussions in all the sectors in which we are present and in particular in the footwear and leather goods business," explains Guido Cami, president and CEO of ICF Spa, "Forestali managed to consolidate 80 million in turnover, eight less than in 2022. Thanks also to the reduction in gas and electricity costs, due to the commissioning of the new photovoltaic plant, profitability was still good'.
The cash generated allowed the Group, listed on the Euronext Growth Milan market of the Italian Stock Exchange, to acquire the industrial business unit of Tessitura Langè, specialised in the finishing of cotton fabrics. Objective: to continue in the direction of 'super' ecological production. "The acquisition of this 'textile finishing boutique'," explains Cami, "allows us to integrate the entire production chain for the production of cotton textiles for luxury packaging, enhancing sustainability and Made in Italy. The fabrics are in fact all GRS (recycled), GOTS (organic cotton), BCI (ethical origin of cottons) certified. The company is also virtuous from the point of view of waste disposal: all the washing water from the dyeing departments flows to Ecologica Naviglio, a leading company in the sector, which has been dealing with the treatment of industrial waste and sewage since 1970.
Forestali continues to maintain its system of certifications: having renewed all those relating to management and product systems, it has drawn up the updated Sustainability Report on a voluntary basis. On the other hand, the Sustainability Manifesto, co-written with ACBC, outlines the goals towards the milestones of 2025, 2030 and 2050; one of them is to continue to promote more and more water-based adhesives. 'On the basis of what we have done in 2023, after a very difficult four-year period for the well-known exogenous reasons,' Cami concludes, 'we hope to be able to resume the growth of our company in 2024, which has doubled its turnover and margins in little more than ten years.
