SIMAC Tanning Tech 2026
Milano.

What SIMAC Tanning Tech is, in two lines

SIMAC Tanning Tech is the international exhibition of machines and technologies for the footwear, leather goods and tanning industries. It is a single show bringing together two co-located brands: SIMAC (footwear and leather-goods machinery) and TANNING TECH (tanning machinery). It is organised by ASSOMAC, the Italian association of footwear, leather-goods and tanning technology manufacturers, and the 2026 edition is the 52nd (annual, not biennial).

It is not a fair for the general public: it is an event where technical buyers across the leather supply chain choose machinery and plant suppliers, decisions that close in the weeks that follow. That is why lead management matters as much as the on-site presence.

What to exhibit, where to exhibit

SIMAC Tanning Tech gathers everything that keeps a leather-chain factory running:

• Machinery for footwear factories and leather goods: cutting, lasting, finishing, assembly
• Machines and plants for tanneries: from hide processing to finishing
• Tanning chemicals, prototyping, model-making: chemical products, prototypes, lab equipment
• Components, accessories, consumables: from materials to consumable tooling
• Automation, management and logistics systems, materials testing
• Purification and waste-water treatment, dies and punches

The exact halls for 2026 have not yet been published: the official map arrives in the weeks before the event. What matters for you is that the SIMAC Tanning Tech visitor arrives with a concrete production problem (a line to upgrade, a department to automate, a tanning process to optimise). Position your product demo so that the technical value reads in 30 seconds, no brochure required.

Visitor profile, who actually enters the booth

The SIMAC Tanning Tech visitor is a leather-chain professional, not a passer-by. Based on the show’s profile and the 2025 edition data (~49% international), the typical audience breaks down roughly as:

• ~35% tanneries: production heads and technicians looking for tanning machines and plants
• ~30% footwear factories: technical buyers of cutting, lasting, finishing lines
• ~20% leather-goods makers: technologies for bags, accessories, small leather goods
• ~15% supply-chain buyers and distributors: agents, integrators, component and chemical suppliers

The data point that changes your booth strategy: around 49% of visitors (2025 ed.) are international, exhibitors from some twenty countries. That means conversations in English (and often Spanish) are the rule, not the exception, and follow-up must be set up in multiple languages from day one.

How to prepare in the 4 weeks before the event

Week -4, messaging audit

Verify that your value proposition answers the three questions every SIMAC visitor asks within the first 30 seconds at the booth:

1. What you do, in one sentence
2. Who it is for, a precise segment (e.g. “mid-to-large tanneries processing bovine hides”)
3. What changes, measurable benefit (pieces/hour, scrap rate, chemical consumption, downtime)

No slides. No brochures. One clear sentence, repeated by every team member, also available in English given the international crowd.

Week -3, booth operations playbook

Define who does what across the three days:

• Who is on the front line at the booth
• Who handles the technical machinery demos
• Who speaks English (and ideally Spanish) with foreign buyers
• Who is in the back office (HQ) running live follow-up during the event (yes, this is a game changer, see below)

If the team is larger than 4 people, set up shift rotations by time slot. Being at the booth for 9 hours straight degrades conversation quality after 2:00 pm.

Week -2, qualification form

Every contact collected at the fair must be qualified on the spot, not “later”. The critical questions are only 3:

1. Timing: when do you need to upgrade or install? (Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4/not sure)
2. Budget: is there already a capital line allocated?
3. Decision: who decides, and how many people are involved?

Everything else (size of the tannery or footwear factory, processes run, specific context) can be found in the 30+ public data sources that good automated enrichment covers without you needing to ask in person.

Week -1, CRM integrations

The classic mistake: contacts collected on paper, photos of badges, official fair app, and then no one moves them into the CRM. Follow-up starts 9 days after the event (industry average), by which time the prospect has already spoken with 3 of your competitors, at a fair where half the buyers are flying home.

Configure the system so that every scan, at the fair, lands directly in the company CRM, with event tag, qualification answers, and a voice note from the sales rep. Not in an Excel, not in a proprietary fair app, not in a Google sheet “we’ll tidy up on Monday”.

Is the official Simac Tanning Tech app worth it?

SIMAC Tanning Tech has an official app (iOS and Android, released for each edition). As a fair-navigation tool it is decent: personal profile, digital ticket, in-fair chat, exhibitor search and location finder, digital business-card exchange, people and company profiles.

What it does NOT do, and the reason few sales teams use it as a real lead capture tool:

• It does not integrate with your company CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive). Contacts stay inside the app.
• It does not automatically enrich data. If the badge only has name, surname, and company, that is all you keep.
• It does not send follow-up to prospects. Follow-up is on you, manually, afterwards.
• It does not generate executive reports. At best you get an export.
• It changes with every edition, so you end up with a different app for every fair you attend.

The official app is a good informational companion for those visiting (what to see, where to go, digital ticket). As a commercial lead capture tool, it falls short. For that, you need systems built for the fair to CRM to follow-up workflow. See how Linkly works.

What to do during the 3 days of the fair

Day 1 (Tuesday the 15th), opening

• Team briefing at 8:15 am: review the 3 messages and the roles
• Calibration: the first 10 leads of the day are for fine-tuning the qualification questions
• Keep your English-speaking team member ready: foreign buyers move from day one
• At 6:00 pm, first debrief: what works, what to fix tomorrow

Day 2 (Wednesday the 16th), the central day

Historically the day with the heaviest top-tier buyer traffic and foreign delegations. Expect production directors, tannery and footwear-factory owners, buyers from international groups who want to “see who does what” across the whole supply chain. Keep a senior person always on the floor: the most strategic prospects of your event will pass through today. It is also the day many visit Lineapelle in parallel: those walking both events are often complete supply-chain buyers.

Day 3 (Thursday the 17th), closing

Natural drop in traffic. It is the moment for:

• Closing meetings with hot leads from Tuesday and Wednesday
• Deeper conversations (less rush, calmer booths)
• Competitor visits: walk the other halls, see who came, take notes for the next edition

What to do in the 7 days after the fair

The average time between fair and first post-event contact, in Italian manufacturing, is 9 days. At a fair where about half the buyers are international, every day lost is a flight that takes the prospect back home, where your local competitors are closer than you are.

The winning follow-up playbook:

1. Within 24h: personalised email to every qualified lead with timing, budget, decision, in the contact’s language. No templates: reference one specific thing said at the booth.
2. Within 7 days: assign 1 sales contact per qualified lead. Schedule a specific touchpoint (call, demo, visit), no batch email.
3. Within 14 days: deliver on promises made at the booth (machinery datasheet, quote, sample). Automatically extractable from the sales rep’s voice notes if the system recorded them.
4. Within 30 days: executive report on performance vs target, distribution by sales rep, country, segment (tanning/footwear/leather goods), estimated pipeline. Use it to request next year’s event budget renewal from the CFO.

Practical FAQ

How much does it cost to exhibit at SIMAC Tanning Tech 2026?

The 2026 rates have not yet been published and vary by position, square footage, and build-out. As a purely indicative figure, for an entry-level 16-25 sqm booth in a standard position at Fiera Milano: €12,000 to €25,000 bare space + €7,000 to €16,000 build-out and services + €5,000 to €12,000 staff, travel, materials. Realistic total range: €25,000 to €55,000 for a respectable three-day presence. For official price lists, refer to ASSOMAC and the official site.

Is SIMAC Tanning Tech the same as Lineapelle?

No, but they run together. SIMAC Tanning Tech (organised by ASSOMAC, machinery and technologies) and Lineapelle (a separate event by Lineapelle S.r.l., dedicated to leathers, materials and accessories) take place on the same dates, at the same venue at Fiera Milano Rho. The co-location doubles the leather-chain buyer pool, but they are two distinct shows with different tickets and organisers. Keep the numbers separate: the ~7,000 visitors are SIMAC Tanning Tech’s (51st ed. 2025), not Lineapelle’s.

Is it true the audience is very international?

Yes. At the 2025 edition (51st) international visitors were around 49%, with exhibitors from some twenty countries. Prepare your booth, materials, and follow-up in multiple languages, at least English, and ideally Spanish.

When does visitor registration open?

Registration opens on the official site in the months before the event. For industry professionals, entry is generally reserved for accredited trade operators: check conditions and timing directly on the site.

What alternative is there to paper for collecting contacts?

Paper is a poor option (digitisation time, errors, lost leads, foreign names mistranscribed). Three practical alternatives:

1. Official fair app: it works, but is disconnected from your CRM (see section above).
2. CRM with native mobile scanning (HubSpot and Salesforce have dedicated features): works if the team knows how to use them. Often they don’t, in a fair context.
3. Dedicated lead capture system + AI agents for enrichment, qualification, follow-up: the pattern Linkly executes. See how it works.

Page updated ahead of the 2026 edition. For official information and exhibitor/visitor registration please refer to simactanningtech.it and ASSOMAC.