Swedish tanner looks to spruce up veg-tanned leather
25/03/2010
A tanner in Sweden specialising in vegetable-tanned leather has called on competitors in southern Europe to join a campaign to use spruce bark as a source of taning agents.
Torbjörn Lundin, chief executive of Tärnsjö Garveri AB, has told leatherbiz that his company has carried out a series of tests using spruce bark extract as a tanning agent in place of the more typical mimosa extract. However, he said that the needs of the Tärnsjö tannery are too small to allow him to have much influence over big forestry firms.
"We are too small to convince them to produce the extract for us," he said. "It would be good if other tanners in southern Europe who are committed to producing vegetable-tanned leather took an interest in spruce bark. That could be important in convincing the forestry guys that there is a market for the extract."
He explained that the tests have shown it is perfectly possible to use spruce bark to tan leather and that the only real difference compared to mimosa is that spruce gives the leather something of the invigorating smell of a Scandinavian forest. Mr Lundin believes the growing number of consumers in Sweden who are keen on locally sourced, organic food will also have an interest in leather tanned from local hides by a local tanner using locally sourced tanning agents.
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