Armando Escobedo

Get to know your colleagues a little bit better. Our “3 questions for…” travels around the globe from one colleague to another. Every colleague will answer the same questions.

Tell us about your work environment. What does it look like? And what are your responsibilities at Royal Smit & Zoon?

I work in León, Guanajuato, México; this is where most of the automotive leather is made in the world, because of our proximity to USA market most auto-tanneries are present in this area. From here the majority of the leather being produced goes to US market, but also to Europe and Asia and sometimes crust is shipped all the way to China.

Here in León you can see little shoe upper very old tanneries up to state of the art facilities for auto-leather. This is of very high importance for our society because young generations can find a place to dedicate their future to… either research, development, production, quality assurance, environmental, general managing… there is a position for pretty much every professional.

We also have a lot of room for improvement and it’s based on conscience, you can see how bad the areas are around the tannery industrial parks so from my perspective, this should our major focus in the future, it shouldn’t be only about how much money I’m making but instead, try to have a holistic approach and look into what we are doing to secure the future for our society as a whole whilst making a living.

Royal Smit & Zoon is driven by a purpose. To make the leather value chain environmentally & socially sustainable. What is your purpose? What gives you energy in your job?

I love making leather, it’s one of my passions and it provides for my family. Trying to produce robust products – processes is what keeps “spinning my wheels” and I get paid for it. I am blessed to have my job and I cherish it every day. Succeeding on a challenging projects makes me happy, although the way to it takes a lot of effort, just as it happened with Pangea and now with Midori; together with Frank Haase and Robert Doidge we have worked very hard to meet customers expectations and that feeds you in such an special way… it’s the Eureka sensation and there are only a few things in life that resemble it.

Armando Escobedo and his wife Mazamitla
Leather Technician

At Royal Smit & Zoon, we love leather. What is your favorite leather item?

I love leather, all types of leather; a few years back I finished a side of embossed patent crocco, from which I made a bag for my wife, hand stitched… it took me quite some time and good effort but at the end it was a very particular present for her. I also made a little pouch for my pods in about 20 minutes, just crust leather and I carry it all over, I use it every day. They are both great and knowing what it takes to make them, from raw pelt all the way to the final article makes you cherish them most.

Leather is great!

Who are you going to pass the baton to?

To my colleague Florian Trandafir
“a very kind and generous man, whom I had the chance to briefly meet last year in Weesp”.

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