Wollsdorf Leather set to agree ten-year deal on polymer-bead retanning
19/01/2017
In September 2016, Xeros revealed for the first time that Wollsdorf was the tanning company with which it had been conducting trials for some months on how to use the technology, which has worked well in industrial laundry (4,300 hotels use the system), in leather production. Initial trials showed that using polymer beads helped reduce by 50% the volume of water required to make leather and the volume of effluent the tannery produced as a result of its manufacturing processes, without the quality of the finished leather being affected.
This new announcement states that Xeros has now signed a heads-of-terms agreement with Wollsdorf Leather for a 10-year contract to convert its entire re-tanning processes to Xeros technology in the course of 2017. Wollsdorf, which was named Tannery of the Year in 2014, has confirmed to leatherbiz that the heads-of-terms agreement is in place but said it requires Xeros to complete further development of the polymer-bead technology and that only after this will it make a definitive decision on full implementation.
In a statement on January 19, Xeros also said that four other European tanneries have committed to trials of the technology and said trials at two of these companies (one of them “a globally recognised brand”) are already under way with two currently underway, including one with a globally recognised brand. It also said that it has plans in place to try out the technology in the textile sector.
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