Italy's water-based
bonding system.
Now in India.
Intercom® is a Florence-based manufacturer of water-based adhesives and spray bonding machines for leather goods, footwear and garment factories. Their Ecostick® adhesive — applied through Intercom's own manual and automatic spray systems — is the standard for solvent-free bonding in Italian high-end production. Adhesive, machine and technical support arrive together.
Adhesive + machine.One company. Montespertoli · Tuscany
First in Italy to promote water-based spray bonding
Certified · REACH compliant · MRSL letters on request
Renewable energy in own manufacturing
Adhesive and machine,
from one company.
Most factories buy adhesives from one supplier and machines from another. When something goes wrong — a spray pattern inconsistency, an adhesion failure, a clog — you don't know whose problem it is. Both suppliers point at the other.
Intercom made a different decision in 1991. They would make both the adhesive and the machine, test them together in their Florence R&D lab, and guarantee the system — not just the product.
The result is the Ecostick® + Intercom® system: a water-based adhesive brand and a spray-machine range calibrated together for every application, every material, every production scale.
"The first company in Italy to promote water-based adhesive spray application in leather goods and footwear manufacturing." — Intercom Srl corporate profile
Three reasons the
industry switched.
HealthFor the operator at the bench
Solvent-based adhesives release VOCs with every application. Fume hoods, respirators, masks — and chronic operator exposure regardless. Ecostick® is solvent-free, non-allergenic, non-flammable. Some formulations: 0% VOC.
EnvironmentFor the factory and beyond
VOC-free means no atmospheric emissions. Packaging with reduced plastic content. 50% renewable energy in Intercom's own production. Products available with 75% content from renewable resources.
BusinessFor the buyer in Germany, France, UK, USA
Water-based is already the standard in Italian and European high-end production. Brands and buyers in Europe and the US increasingly require MRSL compliance and VOC documentation. Ecostick® comes with both — today.
Start where
your factory is.
Bags Borse
The bonding challenge. Bags carry the widest variety of bonding operations of any leather-goods category — coupling leather faces, folding edges, attaching zip carriers, bonding linings, fixing card slots, joining shoulder-strap components. The materials in a single article can run from full-grain hide to synthetic PU, woven fabric to cardboard stiffener, and the bond has to be invisible in all of them.
- Ecostick® does not stiffen the leather — the bond stays flexible and the hand of the hide survives
- No yellowing at the stitch lines, which is what decides a white or pastel bag
- Compatible with the natural latex and neoprene already on most Indian bag lines — introduce it one operation at a time
- Long open time: the operator has room to position precisely before the bond takes
- S8 and S9 spray application cuts glue-room time dramatically against brushing
Wallets Portafogli
The bonding challenge. Wallets, cardholders and passport covers demand the highest precision in the category. The bonding area is small, the adhesive must not bleed onto a visible face, and the joint has to stay permanent through years of repeated folding — in a product the customer opens ten times a day.
- Strong initial grip so a small part stays exactly where it was placed
- High viscosity keeps the adhesive on the surface — no strike-through on thin skiving
- No yellowing at the edge, where every millimetre is visible
- A compact bench and a tight spray pattern beat a brush on parts this small
Belts Cinture
The bonding challenge. A belt is a bond that has to survive continuous flexion for years, in a geometry that is long and narrow. The edge fold must be clean with nothing on the visible face. Brush application struggles across that length; a calibrated spray pattern is exactly the right tool.
- Flexible bond line — the belt bends thousands of times without the joint fatiguing
- Gap-filling ST codes handle the built-up layers at the buckle end
- Long narrow work suits a wide bench and a single continuous pass
- No bleed at the folded edge, on any colour
Shoe upper Tomaia
The bonding challenge. The upper is the most technically demanding bonding job in the whole category. Several materials in one article — leather, fabric, synthetics, foam padding — a complex curved geometry, and a bond that must survive lasting and heel-attach after it has already set.
- Codes written for the multi-substrate reality of an upper rather than for one material
- Bond holds through lasting tension without releasing at the margin
- Pressing over a last form sets the bond to the shape of the shoe, not flat
- Spray reaches into curved and recessed areas a brush cannot lay evenly
Soles Suole
The bonding challenge. Sole-to-upper is the highest-load bond in footwear. It must resist shear from every step and peel from every flex, on sole materials — rubber, TR, TPU, EVA — that each need their own surface preparation and their own adhesive chemistry. This is the joint the customer notices when it fails.
- 1K single-component chemistry: no mixing, no pot life to waste, no ratio error on the floor
- Water-based sole bonding fully replaces solvent contact cement in this operation
- Separate codes for standard sole units and for the difficult EVA and PU geometries
- Conveyor automatics with an integrated dryer suit the volume this operation runs at
Garments Abbigliamento
The bonding challenge. Garment bonding has to survive repeated washing — and in some cases dry cleaning — across fabrics that behave nothing like each other: cotton, wool, polyester, blends. The adhesive must stay flexible after it sets and must not block the hand of the cloth. Both auxiliary (temporary positioning) and permanent bonding are in scope.
- Interlining, hem reinforcement and specialty seam bonding, including dry-cleanable garments
- Auxiliary bonding holds a panel in position for stitching, then leaves no mark
- Flexible after cure — the fabric drapes as it was designed to
- Solvent-free matters most here: garment floors are dense, and operators are close together
Display & furniture Display e arredamento
The bonding challenge. Bonding leather or fabric onto rigid substrates — wood, MDF, metal frame — over large surface areas, for objects that will be examined closely under retail lighting. Any bubble, any adhesive mark, any lifted edge is the whole job.
- Even film across a large area — the wide benches exist for exactly this
- High tack gives excellent hold on resin, wood, metal and foam, not only on board
- The covering stays soft rather than stiffening, which is what makes a tight wrap possible
- Auxiliary or permanent bonding, depending on how the piece is assembled
- No bleed-through on light-coloured or thin covering material
Packaging & cases Packaging e custodie
The bonding challenge. Bonding fabric, paper or leather onto rigid packaging — boxes, jewellery cases, watch and spectacle cases, presentation packaging. Edges must be clean and turned, corners must be tight, and nothing may bleed. The box is the first thing the customer touches.
- Multi-substrate codes handle leather, fabric, paper and board in one operation
- Clean turned edges with no adhesive on the presentation face
- Controlled film weight keeps thin covering paper from cockling
- Non-flammable and odourless — packaging often ships immediately after assembly
Albums & books Album e libri
The bonding challenge. Photo albums and presentation books mean fabric, paper or leather bonded over board across wide flat surfaces. The enemies are wrinkling, bubbling and a wet cockle in the paper — all of which come from too much adhesive laid unevenly.
- High solid content means less water into the paper and board
- Even sprayed film across the full sheet in a single pass on a wide bench
- Clean edges for the turn-in at the board margin
- Long conveyor automatics with in-line drying for album production runs
Automotive Interni auto
The bonding challenge. Leather onto rigid automotive interior surfaces — dashboards, door cards, steering-wheel wrapping, console trim. The bond has to survive temperature cycling from a winter night to a summer dashboard, direct UV through glass, and years of vibration.
- Ageing and yellowing stability under prolonged UV exposure
- Bond integrity across the temperature swing of a parked car
- Programmable pallet automatics give the repeatability an automotive audit expects
- Documented VOC and MRSL data for OEM and tier-one supply chains
One chemistry,
ten product worlds.
The corporate film — Ecostick® sprayed, bonded and dried across the sectors on this page.
Where else the same
chemistry goes.
Intercom's Italian catalogue reaches into sectors the fashion floor never sees. If you make any of these in India, the conversation is worth having.
Mattresses
Bonded foam-core assembly using sprayed water-based adhesive — full-surface bonding without solvent in an enclosed factory.
Thermoplastic adhesives
A separate Intercom range for safety footwear, stationery, helmets, cases and embroidery positioning. Different chemistry, same application precision.
Tiles
Industrial tile bonding — a less-known Intercom application, currently served mainly in Europe.
Orthopaedic
Orthopaedic soles and insoles, where 9004 and 9009 are already the specified codes in the footwear range.
Tell us what you make.
We will spec the system.
Name the product, the materials on both faces and the operation you want to change first. We will come back with the Ecostick® codes, the machine, and a trial plan that does not require you to stop the line.