Cheap fossil fuels are the problem
Efforts to shift businesses to a circular-economy model are being undermined, the 2021 Davos audience hears, by fossil-fuel subsidies the size of the GDP of Japan.
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2021
Hand in glove
Start-up brand Nordic Moose is intent on preventing raw material in Sweden and Finland from going to waste, while preserving traditional, artisan glove-making skills in Hungary.
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2020
Waste squared
Barcelona-based entrepreneur Josep Riera has no personal history in the leather industry, but he has been travelling to and doing business in India for years. During a visit to Kolkata, he noticed piles of leather scraps going to waste and decided he
coul
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2020
Pathways for smaller companies
An important part of the leather industry’s circular economy credentials is that, in this value chain, companies of all sizes are able to see the way forward from linear to circular production. The experience of Finnish footwear brand Terhi P lkki and its
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2020
A yearning for the real thing
Leather has every right to claim its place in the circular economy. Makers and sellers of synthetic materials that misuse the term ‘leather’ to confuse the public and make money under false pretences present a threat to the industry. More regulation is re
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2020
A yearning for the real thing
Leather has every right to claim its place in the circular economy. Makers and sellers of synthetic materials that misuse the term ‘leather’ to confuse the public and make money under false pretences present a threat to the industry. More regulation is re
World Leather - 0
Leather’s circular economy stars of the future
A third intake of students began a new ‘Green Leather Manager’ course in the Italian region of Veneto this academic year. The main representative body of the region’s leather cluster, il Distretto della Pelle, worked with research and academic organisatio
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2020
Companies must step up
France’s main leather industry association, the Conseil National du Cuir, successfully organised the first Sustainable Leather Forum in Paris in the autumn. An audience of leather industry professionals, designers and senior representatives
from luxury le
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2019
A push to prolong products’ lives
Online marketplace Vestiaire Collective specialises in passing luxury leathergoods from one owner to the next, arguing that prolonging a product’s life is good for the planet.
Leather lends itself perfectly to this.
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2019
Old shoes resurrected
The knowledge, skills and love required to repair leather shoes may be less common than they were 100 years ago, but giving footwear a new life in this way is making a comeback. Quality shoes are growing in popularity among consumers and the leather conte
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2019
Time for a different story to emerge
With an increased focus on moving economies from a linear model to a circular one, a pioneer in terms of theory and practice argues that the leather industry has much to
share with the rest of the manufacturing sector about turning waste into a valuable
m
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2019
Circular economy horizons
Leather meets many of the criteria that circular economy products must fulfil. Smit & Zoon’s platform leader for bio-based chemicals, Dr Yujie Ma, argues that, to make leather even more circular, hard work and effective communications must intensify in th
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2019
An introduction to Leather and the Circular Economy
In the 2020s and beyond, the way we make and use products will have to shift from a linear model to a circular one. Influential institutions such as the European Commission realise that it is only by achieving this change that they can meet targets for ke
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2019
Too cool for fast fashion
Leather jackets seem popular again, which has come as no surprise to the founder of Boda Skins, Nathan Alexander. The Manchester-based designer describes long-lasting jackets made from nappa and shearling as “the epitome of cool”. To extend the life of it
World Leather - 2020 0
Farfetch tool too far-fetched
The H2O-heavy calculation in a new fashion footprint tool from e-commerce platform Farfetch is comparatively unfair to leather.
World Leather - 2020 0
New possibility for recycling leather scraps
A US company has coined a way of turning tanneries’ waste into a new material without bonding with polymers; interested parties include Timberland, which is using it for a
footwear collection.
World Leather - 2020 0
No contest
The price of leather is at its most affordable for years and footwear producers shopping in the lower-quality range of the upper materials market have the option to bring a beautiful, renewable, high-performing material back into their collections. And be
World Leather - 2020 0
Tired of just talking about sustainability
A stimulating discussion with an insightful sustainable footwear expert and the extra time to think during months of lockdown were the catalysts that helped Silvateam put in place all the pieces required for making leather “completely sustainable”.
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2020
Carbon figures show why hides must not go to waste
In diverting hides from landfill or incineration, leather production does more than create jobs, generate value and promote circular practice. It brings an environmental benefit by preventing the greenhouse gas emissions that decomposing hides emit.
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2020
Biocircular leather
Metal-free tanning has been used since the first hide was tanned. Modern advances in
technology have improved the performance of the leathers but, in doing so, have limited the disposal routes of the leather and the end products. Silvateam believes it has
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2020
Work under way on traceability standard
A United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) project aims to establish new
traceability standards to help tackle the problem of clothing and footwear adding to the broader burden of waste. One of the standards will focus specifically on leather
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2020
Small-batch boots
A footwear manufacturer, a tanner and a whiskey company mixed together centuries of know-how and craftsmanship to make a special-edition work boot. It proved to be a recipe for success.
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2020
By human hand
Lexus chose a leather artisan, Otis Ingrams, to launch a new film series. The short documentaries highlight parallels between the work of Lexus’s own master craftspeople (takumi) and that of skilled people plying traditional trades in the UK today.
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2020
Metal-free and traceable
Luxury group Kering has been running sustainability programmes since 2012. Its most recent sustainability goals set ambitious targets for its leathergoods brands and their suppliers in the tanning industry.
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2020
Standards are on the way
An initiative by French standards body Afnor has led to the possibility of new
ISO standards on the circular economy. An ISO technical committee is already hard at work on this.
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2020
The ultimate circular raw material
Leather chemicals manufacturer Smit & Zoon has launched a new company, Nera, through which it will bring to market tanning solutions that it describes as “truly sustainable”. A first new tanning system, Zeology, is already available. It is based on the mi
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2020
Leather industry answers back
A row over the treatment of leather in the Higg Materials Sustainability Index has had two potentially positive consequences. A broader dialogue between senior industry
representatives and the organisation behind the index is under way. Perhaps even more
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2020
EU project aims to set up new tanning process
Academics from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice and tanning industry partners in nearby
Vicenza have been working together and making progress on GOAST, a project that is part of the European Union’s wider LIFE programme and aims to encourage the use of g
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2020
Chrome VI limits called into question
AFIRM, a group of brands in the apparel, footwear and sporting goods industries, has said it is hard to see how any tightening of the allowable limits of chrome VI in leather can be approved. Further, the group believes the validity of the current limit i
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2020
Smit & Zoon promises sustainable tanning solutions
With a long-established background in retannage, fatliquoring and syntans, Smit & Zoon, a seventh-generation, family-owned business based in the Netherlands, has strengthened its portfolio of products over recent years. In 2017 it acquired further wet-end
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2020
Smit & Zoon promises sustainable tanning solutions
With a long-established background in retannage, fatliquoring and syntans, Smit & Zoon, a seventh-generation, family-owned business based in the Netherlands, has strengthened its portfolio of products over recent years. In 2017 it acquired further wet-end
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2020
Ethiopia’s story ‘has just begun’
A Vivobarefoot and Pittards partnership has created jobs and opportunities in the African country. With brands looking at new sourcing destinations, Pittards CEO Reg Hankey tells us why collaborative supply chains are the way forward.
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2020
Circling the wagons has to stop
Chief sustainability officer at PrimeAsia, Fernando Bellese, accepts that leather faces “rough competition” from the makers of other materials, but says there are a number of
important, positive actions the sector must take to put in place a more dynamic
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2020
Zero-waste heroes
SICIT, a specialist producer of fertiliser and other products, has spent decades developing solutions to the age-old problem of how best to find a use for and extract value from the waste material that wet end tannery operations generate. Its products are
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2020
The law is an asset
A new law protecting leather’s identity will come into force in Italy this October. It will provide greater clarity for consumers and protect them from sellers of synthetics that seek to deceive them. It will also help make clearer the distinction between
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2020
Time to put the by-product debate to bed
There are ill-founded arguments
that the raw material for leather is
a co-product rather than a byproduct
of the meat and dairy
industries. After what the Leather
and Hide Council of America has
called “a staggering decline” in the
hide’s share of cattle
World Leather - Jun/July 2020
Sacred Cow: It’s the How
The Sacred Cow project is soon to release a book and a movie, making the case
for an ethical, regenerative food system built around well-raised cattle.
World Leather - Jun/July 2020
Waste worth billions
Statistics from France’s Conseil National Du Cuir provide a reminder of just
how much value tanners and finished product manufacturers are able to add to
hides. In the right hands, the worth of the waste that the meat and dairy sectors
generate can increa
World Leather - Jun/July 2020
Assessing the biodegradability of leather
Spanish research institute Inescop has developed technology that can help tanners make a quick assessment of the impact that new products and processes will have on the biodegradability of their leather.
World Leather - Jun/July 2020
What a waste
Industry body the Leather and Hide
Council of America (LHCA) has
calculated that 5.5 million hides
generated by the US livestock
industry in 2019 failed to reach the
leather value chain. LHCA said that
“a large percentage”, if not quite all,
of these hide
World Leather - Apr/May 2020
The ongoing value of waste
Just as tanners are proud of the
circular economy cachet that their
use of waste from the meat and dairy
sectors gives, they have to make the
fullest possible use of the waste their
own production generates too.
World Leather - Apr/May 2020
Sustainable processess
The objective of environmental sustainability is to preserve natural resources, reduce pollution and
develop alternative sources of energy. There are different requirements that a process must fulfil to be
considered sustainable, and include reducing the
World Leather - Apr/May 2020
Leather ‘holds so much promise’ for Niger
The Enhanced Integrated Framework tells World Leather how it is working with the
government to modernise tanneries, train leather workers and set up more advanced
systems for skin collection and exports.
World Leather - Apr/May 2020
Limited editions, unlimited creativity
Designer Frederikke Antonie
Schmidt’s decision to build a high
heels label using leather offcuts from
other brands has resulted in a shoe
collection that is dynamic, playful
and sustainable.
World Leather - Apr/May 2020
A material for keeping
Entrepreneur Arturas Kanapkis discovered that stylish bags made from Tuscan
vegetable-tanned leather chimed perfectly with his love and respect for ageless
elegance, allowing him to build up his own leathergoods brand.
World Leather - Apr/May 2020
Blame it on the bovines
Links between the meat and livestock industry and leather is one of the themes we have set
out to cover in depth in the course of 2019. Part of the ongoing debate is the contribution
livestock herds make to greenhouse gas emissions. The statistics are fre
World Leather - Jun/July 2019
Tannins: a sustainable solution
In the first of two articles, Italian chemicals manufacturer Silvateam offers insight
into sources of sustainable tannins from areas of Italy and South America. The
second article will contain information about its use of quebracho from Argentina
and tara
World Leather - Apr/May 2019
A future focused on innovation
Tanning group PrimeAsia hosted an open-house event at its tannery in Vietnam in
March to celebrate the completion of an expansion project it began in 2015.
World Leather - Apr/May 2019
DNA traceability of hides and leather
Applied DNA Sciences (ADNAS) and Eurofins BLC Leather Technology
Centre last year completed a successful research project to develop a
comprehensive traceability platform for leather. The organisations are now
working together on the commercial implementa
World Leather - Apr/May 2019
Arzignano water treatment plant
Just as the human digestive system is key to helping a person enjoy a long life, the effluent treatment plant operated by Acque del Chiampo in Arzignano plays a crucial role in maintaining the health of this important tanning district. Investment has ensu
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2019
No need for waste
Farfetch, a luxury e-commerce marketplace, has launched its own start-up accelerator programme, the
Dream Assembly, to help it build “the next generation of fashion and retail technology”. No fewer than
three of the initial cohort of 11 start-ups are buil
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2018
Lexus-inspired sports shoe
A new handmade shoe from sports brand Norman Walsh takes its
inspiration from automotive brand Lexus, including its use of
upholstery leather in the upper.
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2018
Home and dry
Footwear group Ecco made a splash at the 2018 World Water Congress in Tokyo when its tanning
division, Ecco Leather, announced a breakthrough that promises important savings in chemicals, sludge
and, most importantly, water compared to established leather
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2018
We need to talk about chemicals
There is urgent need in the industry for dialogue about making leather chemicals not
just effective, but also more efficient so that more of these products fix themselves
into the finished leather and lower their impact on effluent treatment plants.
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2018
Kanpur crackdown
Every six years, religious festivals bring millions of pilgrims to Allahabad to bathe in the sacred River
Ganges. The next major festival will take place between January and March 2019 and, 200 kilometres
up-river, more than 400 tanners in the Kanpur clus
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2018
In praise of zirconium
There is pressure on tanners everywhere to reduce COD values in the wastewater they send
to effluent treatment plants. At the 2018 Freiberg Leather Days event, the head of wet end
screening at TFL, Florian Döppert, argued that if chrome-free leathers are
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2018
Time for change
The director of the UK Leather Federation, Dr Kerry Senior, argues that the leather industry must work
globally to convince brands and consumers to shift away from synthetics and back to leather. His view is
that a far more “active and aggressive approach
World Leather - Jun/July 2018
Arzignano is the leather industry’s Silicon Valley
The much travelled international sales director of leather chemicals group GSC, Diego Cisco, argues
that the Arzignano tanning cluster, near his company’s headquarters in northern Italy, can offer an
example of leadership, innovation and entrepreneurial s
World Leather - Jun/July 2018
Plastic has nothing to complain about
Texts about and images of plastic waste polluting beaches and the oceans of the world are turning some
consumers against using the material. This ought to offer opportunities for leather to retake some of the
market share it has lost to these synthetic ma
World Leather - Jun/July 2018
Salting hides needs to stop
Meat consumption will continue and hides will continue to move from abattoirs into leather production. In
this article, based on an influential speech he made at the third World Leather Congress in Shanghai in
2017, World Leather’s publisher and chief exe
World Leather - Apr/May 2018
Reduction of salt usage in leather processing
The issue of salt usage is one which the leather industry is still fighting to address.
World Leather technical editor Mike Tomkin delves deeper into why it poses such a
big problem and calls on the industry to do more to tackle it head-on.
World Leather - Apr/May 2018
Leather or not leather? That is the question
The misuse of the term ‘leather’ and the consequences of such
misuse is a topic that has generated much discussion in the
leather industry in recent months. In this article, technical editor
Mike Tomkin offers some insight into what can be done about it.
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2018
End of life, or the start of a new one?
Technical editor Mike Tomkin sets the scene for one of the special themes World Leather will examine in 2018: end-of-life recycling.
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2017
Boron in hide and skin curing processes
With the prevalence of tannery effluent being used for irrigation, tanners need to be aware of the specific monitoring requirements pertaining to soil and water sources as this article about boron illustrates.
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2017
greenLIFE 4: By-products of the tanning cycle as fertilising components
Green Leather Industry for the Environment (greenLIFE) is a project run by a group of industry partners in Italy’s Arzignano tanning cluster. The project partners have committed to sharing their findings by publishing a series of papers in World Leather.
World Leather - June/July 2017
Sustainability in the leather supply chain
Compliance with social and environmental standards is now a must for tanners in most parts of the world, which is helping to redress the imbalance between producers in different continents.
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2017
Improving the biodegradability of vegetable tanned leather
Tanning stabilises protein, thus making leathers more
difficult to biodegrade than raw hides and skins, composting offers a solution
to waste disposal problems associated with these leather
products. In this event this offers a strong alternative to land-
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2016
greenLIFE 1: Oxidative liming
In 2014, two of the biggest tanners in the Arzignano cluster, Gruppo Dani and Gruppo Mastrotto, formally launched a
joint project called Green Leather Industry for the Environment (greenLIFE), on which they have worked with three
technical partners: chemi
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2016
The carbon footprint in leather chemicals
While carbon dioxide occurs naturally, it is the most common
of the man-made greenhouse gases and is believed to be a
significant contributor to global warming. It is not easy for the
customer or consumer to know the true value of a product, and
specifica
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2016
Aku makes the most of Zero Impact leather
Focus on: Footwear. Italian outdoor footwear brand Aku, a long-term partner of prominent leather producer
Gruppo Dani, was the first shoe producer to use Dani’s ‘Zero Impact’ leather in its
products as part of a wider drive to become more sustainable.
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2016
Nothing to Hide: World Leather completes essay programme
The Nothing To Hide Series is now complete, but the programme is ongoing because the
idea is (and always was) for the essays to be accessed, quoted and shared by everyone
with an interest in leather. All 15 essays are now available and are free to use.
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2016
Kering’s unfair burden on leather
A report in which luxury group Kering assesses progress against its own sustainability targets carries mixed
news. Some of the work the group has done is excellent, and its offer to share its findings with the rest of the
industry is admirable, but howeve
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2016
Water-repellent and metal-free leathers
The OakLeather range of leathers manufactured by the
Carvalhos Group in Portugal’s principal leather
manufacturing cluster, Alcanena, are metal-free, based on
wet white tanning systems, and incorporate tannins extracted
from the bark of oak trees. The ori
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2015
Energy from tannery solid waste
Su¨dleder manufactures both chrome tanned and wet white
tanned leathers from bovine hides for the automotive sector
on a contract tanning basis. The capacity of the plant is up
to 3,500 hides per day, and in recent years the company’s
objective has been t
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2015
A flawed report of concern to the leather industry
The information presented in the image above was published in May in the ‘I’ – a daily briefing newspaper with a circulation of some 300,000, an offshoot of its parent newspaper, The Independent, a UK national paper with a circulation of 60,000. In this a
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2015
Addressing flawed information of concern to the leather industry
In conjunction with the report in this issue of World Leather under the heading “A flawed report of concern to the leather industry”, this paper sets down a number points that World Leather believes can be used to support leather sector.
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2015
The language of luxury
Focus on: Aviation Leather. Aside from its performance characteristics, leather is prolific across the global air fleet for its aesthetic and tactile qualities. Leading design agencies tell us why airlines favour it to convey brand message and quality.
World Leather - Apr/May 2015
Chasing ‘the Holy Grail’
Focus on: Aviation Leather. Designers have suggested ways tanneries can improve the leathers they offer. But reducing weight and adding flame resistance while maintaining performance is no easy task.
World Leather - Apr/May 2015
The rise of automotive leather
As car manufacturers around the world report record sales and expanding
production, the future looks rosy for their leather suppliers. However, it is
not all plain sailing: battles over raw material are set to intensify and
leather will have work to keep
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2015
Water colours the thinking of OEMs
Automotive brands want to present themselves to consumers as environmentally responsible companies, which
means partners all the way along the supply chain, including those involved in producing automotive leather, have
had to take creative and, sometimes
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2015
Kering’s sharing
The French luxury group has been working on two novel tanning methods for three years for its Gucci and Bottega Veneta brands, and says it is almost ready to offer the chrome-free and heavy-metal-free developments to the industry.
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2014
H&M takes ambitious strides with new leather strategy
The Swedish fashion retailer has already promoted its work with vegetable tanner Tärnsjö as part of its Conscious collection – and it is now ready to take its leather sourcing one step further.
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2014
Cows as biodigesters with legs
Concerns about livestock’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions are not new. This represents an area in which the meat industry is working to lower its carbon footprint. One new idea to have come out of agricultural research in Argentina is to show th
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2014
Remediation of soils contaminated with metals
Valgo is a company dedicated to soil remediation works and decontamination of mainly asbestos from building sites. Several years ago, in collaboration with ECOLAB (a laboratory, part of an institute for agronomy in Toulouse) a study began into the possibi
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2014
Better boots have a lower carbon footprint
As consumers become increasingly keen on knowing the environmental profile of all the products they buy, WL Gore has calculated the extent to which high-quality hiking boots can help people keep their carbon footprint as low as possible.
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2014
IPCC puts focus on fossil fuels, not livestock
Campaign groups have complained vocally for years of the damage that greenhouse gas emissions from livestock can cause to the environment. In their most detailed report so far, scientific experts on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made it c
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2014
Reducing the carbon footprint of leather
Sustainability in leather production is a widely discussed topic within the leather community. In 20121 and 20144 this important subject was discussed in World Leather, where BASF’s footprint concept was introduced as an integral approach for sustainable
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2014
A work in progress
COTANCE has shown true leadership in helping the leather industry fight its corner on the question of carbon footprint. Negotiating with the European Commission and with other industries as part of a pilot project is proving to be hard work, but the prize
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2014
Leather as part of a sustainable lifestyle
Many companies in the luxury sector are committed to advancing good social, environmental, and animal welfare practices, including sustainable sourcing practices. And because many of these companies offer footwear, clothing and accessories made from leath
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2014
Centro Tecnologico das industrias do Couro (CTIC) - 20th anniversary
The Leather Technology Centre, Portugal, was created as a result of an initiative between the leather industry and the public institutions IAPMEI (Institute for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises) and INETI (Portuguese Institute for Engineering and Techn
World Leather - Aug/Sept 2014
VOC-free leathers: A moving target
Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from leather originated as a discussion in the automotive industry,
triggered by so-called "Fogging", a physical effect. Nowadays the focus is increasingly on smell and
toxicological aspects of VOC emissions. This c
World Leather - June/July 2014
Adding substance to sustainability
For those working in the global leather industry, sustainability and the environment take on added importance as it is the tanning industry that converts the by-product of the agricultural and meat industries into a valued product. While the food industry
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2013
Real tanneries, real life
The fourth Tannery of the Year Global Awards programme is about to start; the first of the new reports will appear in the next issue of World Leather (December 2013-January 2014). During the first three editions, we have had the privilege of seeing at ver
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2013
Sustainability at the heart of BASF's core
A state-of-the-art research and design facility for leather chemicals at BASF’s headquarters for Asia is central to the chemical group’s philosophy that sustainable solutions will be created through a sustained focus on innovation.
World Leather - Oct/Nov 2013
Sustainable tanning: waste minimisation in the tannery
Over the last few years the chemical industry has introduced many new technical solutions to the leather industry. Most offer environmental advantage or reduced risk of harm, and these advances are set to continue. In particular, novel enzymatic beamhouse
World Leather - Apr/May 2014
Climate protection and leather
In recent years, the commitment of a company to climate protection has developed into a central competitive factor.The Verband der Deutschen Lederindustrie (Association of the German Leather Industry) recognised the need for a certification of an energy-e
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2014
Dyeing levelness on full grain leathers
The levelness of dyeing of aniline and semi-aniline leathers directly affects their use and value within the manufacture of high value leather goods. However, colour variation caused by natural neck growth marks and draw in the belly parts is frequently f
World Leather - Aug/Sep 2013
Sustainability through the leather production chain
Sponsored by Clariant, this feature looks at the development of solutions that simplify the production of finished leather while limiting the burden on people, the environment and resources.
World Leather - Apr/May 2012
High-fastness fatliquors from sustainable resources
New fatliquors based on renewable raw materials have been developed that provide outstanding light and heat fastness performance together with excellent softening effects. This paper gives an overview of the chemistry of fatliquors, and compares the techn
World Leather - Apr/May 2012
Innovation. Part 4: Making the most of resources
Twenty world-standard tanneries have opened their doors for in-depth study as part of the global Tannery of the Year Awards programme launched by the publishers of World Leather in 2009. In part four of this series we look at examples of innovation in pra
World Leather - Apr/May 2012
A new green leather
As a result of close cooperation between N-Zyme BioTec and LGR, a tanning process has been developed and optimised on bovine hides using activated olive residues.
World Leather - Apr/May 2012
Carbon footprint – a new challenge for the leather industry
A growing and ageing population, urbanisation, globalisation and climate protection – these will pose major challenges for all of us, and BASF and the wider chemical industry have solutions to manage these challenges.
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2012
EasyWhite Tan leather: A tanning evolution
This paper describes a new white tanning system from Clariant for leathers suitable for automotive, shoe upper and other classic leather types. The absence of common salt as normally used in the pickle stage has significant implications within clean techn
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2011
Genuine lightweight leather: A new micro-sphere
The largest source of green house gas emissions globally is through the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas in power plants, automobiles, industry etc. the USA is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide(CO2) and, in 2006, petroleum supplied the
largest share of US domestic energy demands, accounting for an average of 47% of total
fossil-fuel-based energy consumption(1). The USA and China produced by far the largest
CO2 emissions in the world of 5,987.98 and 5,010.17 million tonnes in 2004 respectively(2).
There are about 800 million petroleum consuming cars in the world(3) which is expected
to continue to rise long term, beyond the current crisis. The USA and China are now the world’s biggest markets for such vehicles and there is seriously growing concern about sustainability.
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2009
The regeneration of used salt from curing
One of the major problems that the leather industry needs to address is the issue of salinity. It is well known that most of the salt component in tannery effluents is generated from the salt used for preservation of hides and skins. There is always an excess of salt applied to ensure a complete cure, so, as a first step to reduce salinity, this surplus can be shaken from the hides and skins before beginning the soaking process. Various methods are used, but the question then arises, what happens to this contaminated salt?
World Leather - 08 - Dec/Jan 2007
Reducing the amount of salt required for hide and skin preservation
In Pakistan the most common method of curing is by salting. But all of this salt is subsequently removed and most of this enters tannery effluent where it can only be removed under extreme conditions. It is also the major source of salinity found in tannery effluents.
World Leather - 08 - Dec/Jan 2007
Collagen as a substrate for biomaterials: Part 2
Using biotechnology, it is possible to cut specific regions of the collagen molecule in order to solubilise collagen whilst, at the same time, retaining its helical nature. This new form of collagen can then be precipitated from solution, solubilised and moulded into any shape or form that may be required for medical purposes. This second part of the article follows on from Part 1, issued in World Leather August/September 2007.
World Leather - 08 - Dec/Jan 2007
The 110th Annual SLTC conference 2007
The 110th annual conference of the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists was held in Chester UK on Saturday September 29, 2007, the event being attended by 77 people from the leather and associated industries. In total eight technical papers were presented including The Atkin Memorial lecture, “The beamhouse, foundation for leather making—experience during 50 years”, given by John Basford.
World Leather - 07 - Nov 2007
The theory and practice of direct pickle/chrome liquor recycling
Minimising the chloride/sulfate and chromium ion content from pickle tanning
Although the information set down in this paper is fundamental to the highly successful technology and this is probably the most informative study that has been written on this subject, it should be remembered that the original report was produced before the technology became widely established and some minor details will have changed by now.
World Leather - 06 - Oct 2007
The application of modern biotechnology methods and the manufacture of quality leathers
The increased use of biotechnology methods by leading chemical supply companies is impacting the way that leather is produced today. Changes have resulted in improvements to the repeatability of processing, reductions in cost, and a decrease in the environmental footprint along with improvements in leather quality.
World Leather - 05 - Aug/Sept 2007
A compendium of salinity-related information
One of the major global issues affecting the viability of many tanneries is salinity and for this reason there has been a strong focus on the subject in recent publications. Accordingly, this article sets down issues that are related to salinity and a list of publications that have been presented. These total almost 50 technical papers.
World Leather - 03 - May 2007
Formaldehyde analysis: Test methods and results
There have been recent changes in the understanding of the toxicity of formaldehyde, and a proposed change in the testing method. With the realisation that the greatest risk to human health comes from airborne formaldehyde, test methods are now tending to change to reflect this.
World Leather - 03 - May 2007
The problem of marine discharge
The marine environment is sensitive, but because problems of dealing with salinity, massive clusters of tanneries are now located near the coast in order to discharge these effluents into the sea.
World Leather - 02 - April 2007
Technologies to improve the useful area of leather
The manufacturing of leather is facing diverse challenges including pressure from the eco-toxicity point of view, in the form of stringent new regulations. The measures necessary to deal with these issues add to the cost pressure that tanners are experien
World Leather - Aug/Sep 2006
Buyer's view: Patagonia
Environmentally-friendly leather takes a step into the outdoors with the emphasis on ISO 14001.
World Leather - Aug/Sep 2006
A salt-free pickling regime for hides and skins
This paper describes a series of pilot studies to investigate salt-free pickling systems based on phenol sulfonic acid preparations on hides, sheepskins pelts, and woolsheep leading to the successful commercialisation of the findings.
World Leather - June/July 2006
VOCs in the tanning sector
The solvents used during finishing operations represent the main source of Volatile Organic Carbons (VOC) for tanneries.
World Leather - May 2006
Water management
Driven by legislation: The concept of zero discharge for water.
World Leather - April 2006
Waste creates new growth
Many by-products from leather manufacture, that have traditionally been treated as waste, are now being viewed as 'new raw materials' through the development of new techniques.
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2006
The Machine Minder: Recycling containers
Leather production requires a broad range of liquid chemicals — tanning and bating compounds, fatliquors, a whole host of specialised finishing compounds, both solvent and waterbased. Management’s main concern is to make sure that stocks are ordered and d
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2006
Recycling - a new source of innovation
After decades of defending its environmental position, the leather industry has seen dialogue change. Corporate social responsibility requires tanners to start thinking about what happens to all the products and articles as they end their useful life. Ins
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2006
The real cost of a kilo of salt
The following paper provides an overview of a different approach to tanning. The technique is managed in the ‘non-swelling’ pH zone, and thus eliminates the need for salt within the conventional acid pickle. The fibre stabilisation provided – somewhat sim
World Leather - Nov 2005
Business technology: A prize-winning tannery
While tanners in other European nations have often been heard to complain about the onerous burdens placed on them to meet EU and national environmental legislation, Hulshof, one of Holland’s tanners, seems to revel in meeting the challenge. In fact, the
World Leather - Aug/Sep 2005
Formaldehyde-free leather – a realistic objective?
There is an increasing demand for “formaldehyde-free” leather. No legal regulation presently exists for this chemical in the EU, but in many areas of application the amount of formaldehyde contained in leather is limited by technical specifications or eco
World Leather - June/July 2005
The real cost of a kilo of salt: Part 1
The first part of two looks at salinity in the tanning process: responsibility and actions, and the elimination of salt from acid pickles.
World Leather - May 2005
A practical alternative to salt for the preservation of hides and skins
Salt as a preservative for hides and skins is simple in application, low in cost and effective.
Accordingly it is the most common form of preservation, but in practical term salt cannot be removed
within effluent treatment. It enters the environment where the true costs are experienced in reality.
World Leather - May 2005
Salinity within tannery effluents
The total global input of bovine hides, sheep, goat and
pigskins is nearly eight million tonnes as wet salted
weight a year. On this basis, it could be estimated that
tanning operations world-wide use some four million tonnes of
World Leather - Feb/Mar 2005
The determination of Cr(VI) by test method IUC18/CEN/TS14495
The publication of the test method CEN/TS 14495(1)(identical to IUC 18) last year—which focused on the determination of Cr(VI) in leather—became the subject of discussion in Germany and across the whole of Europe.
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2004
The recycling of limed fleshings
The handling and any recovery of products contained in limed fleshings in the tannery has long been a serious expense. Moving this material for eventual dumping incurs labour costs, even when the specialised equipment is employed.
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2004
Primary settling
There are many examples of primary settling systems that are ineffective. And limitations are not restricted to small
tanneries, as severe problems can be found in some of the largest and most expensive treatment plants.
World Leather - Nov 2004
Lagooning: a solution for tannery effluent
The simplest method of purifying a wastewater is to discharge it into a pond and to let nature do its work. Sunlight,
heat, oxygen from air,bacteria, algae and, above all, time are needed. Generally known as the lagoon process, the technique was adopted i
World Leather - Nov 2004
Back to Basics: Environmental - Part 10 of 10
Solid wastes and sludges: The most effective ways to minimise the problem presented by solid waste and sludges are reduce waste at source, view by-products as potential raw materials and manage sludges effectively.
World Leather - Nov 2004
Back to Basics: Environmental - Part 9 of 10
Sludge handling: Gross solids as sludges from primary settling are pumped from the base of the settling tank. Having a solids content of about 4%, these require dewatering before disposal. In hot climates this dewatering is commonly performed in sludge dr
World Leather - Oct 2004
Wasserglass in leather production
The main objective of this project—funded by the CRAFT
programme of the EC(2)—was to develop findings from a
previous investigation on the application of Wasserglass.
In the study, procedures for pelt treatment with Wasserglass(3)
World Leather - Aug/Sep 2004
Back to Basics: Environmental - Part 7 of 10
Secondary effluent treatment: After separation of the solids from the effluent by primary clarification, the supernatant is delivered for aerobic biological treatment. Known as the activated sludge process, the effluent requires continuous aeration to en
World Leather - June/July 2004
Back to Basics: Environmental - Part 6 of 10
Primary effluent treatment: It is recognised that the first stage in the treatment of wastes from any process operation is to use the most appropriate materials and optimise performance. However, even after applying the best available technology to leathe
World Leather - May 2004
False hexavalent chromium determinations
Considerable discussion and research has taken place into the potential weaknesses and accuracy of the diphenylcarbazide determination of hexavalent chromium in leather. Despite these reservations, the general attitude has been to accept that hexavalent c
World Leather - Dec/Jan 2003
The V-Fold belt filter press
The V-Fold filter was developed in Australia to dewater slurries and sludges generated during wastewater treatment so they can beremoved at lower cost, and in some cases used in compost. Its simple design and forgiving nature means little operator input i
World Leather - Nov 2003
Back to Basics: Environmental - Part 2 of 10
Materials consumed and waste generated
The diagram shows the quantity of finished shoe upper leather and splits produced, and the waste generated from
processing one tonne of wet
World Leather - Nov 2003
Back to Basics: Environmental - Part 1 of 10
Environmental matters cannot be taken in isolation from leather making, as every facet of pollution or residual material is a direct function of manufacture.
World Leather - Oct 2003
