Tricker’s secures exclusive use of Weinheimer's ‘olive’ leather
20/12/2017
The process, which was first offered by Heller-Leder in 2011 and is known as wet green, principally uses the leaves of the olive trees that are traditionally discarded and burned.
Tricker’s will use the leather on an exclusive basis for two years; it has been championed by managing director Martin Mason for its sustainability credentials and will be used for around 10% of the company’s shoes.
It appears in the Last 81 collection (pictured), a revival of a bespoke last originally produced in 1950 for an Austrian general, part of the autumn-winter 2017 collection.
A leather technology company called Wet-Green was spun off by former members of the team at the influential centre for leather education, the Lederinstitut Gerberschule, which closed in 2011. Like the school, Wet-Green is based in Reutlingen. The company’s head of product development is a well known figure in leather research and education, Heinz-Peter Germann.
Dr Germann confirmed to leatherbiz that Weinheimer is one of a number of tanners to have begun using wet green in production, with Olivvia as its proprietary brand name for calf leather tanned using the process. It is this, rather than olive-tanned leather in the wider sense, that Tricker’s will have exclusive use of.
He said that the Wet-Green company has also registered Olivenleder as a brand name for leather made using the technology and explained that all of its partner tanners are entitled to use that term alongside, or in addition to, their own brands.
See World Leather article on wet green, October/November 2011, for more about the olive tanning process or visit www.wet-green.com. All technical papers are available to download from the Technical Library - they are free to subscribers or £1 for non-subscribers.
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