Alicante, Valencia, Spain-based Gimar, and sister brand Salmon Planet, are aiming for total circularity in their value chain, a move driven by both their sustainable ethics and their desire to stand out from the crowd.
“Being in Alicante, Spain, we had trouble grabbing the public’s eye and differentiating from other companies,” said Salmon Planet owner Carlos Jiménez through a translator. “We’re not talking about numbers, but we’re talking about romanticism. [Our] vision, [our] future projects.”
This desire to differentiate inspired Jiménez to start an innovative salmon skin upcycling project, which is in its prototype phase in partnership with local recycled shoe brand Sneep. At Seafood Expo Global, held 6 to 8 May in Barcelona, Spain, the company displayed a range of shoes, handbags, belts, and other fashion items made of salmon leather.
Alicante, Jiménez said, is known for its leather, so the expansion also makes sense from a community perspective. In a local market saturated by fine leather goods, marine leather has a chance to not only offer a sustainable alternative, reducing waste through the the utilization of a byproduct, but also elevate the name recognition of the Salmon Planet brand.
Though he was happy with the prototypes on display, Jiménez said that soon he would be redesigning the marine leather creation process himself.
“Having a great salmon skin [leather], it’s a real challenge to create,” said Jiménez. “This know how, [it] must be [mine].”
This isn’t the first time Jiménez’s passion for disruption has inspired him to rebuild the systems on which his family business is founded. He grew up working at his father’s side at Gimar, learning to perfect his salmon cutting and curing skills...
