Olive leather part of sustainability milestone for Skoda
Car manufacturer Skoda has confirmed that an important option for buyers of its Enyaq iV model will be to have Olivenleder (olive leather) upholstery on the seats.
The Enyaq iV is Skoda’s first electric-only sports utility vehicle. It launched on September 1.
Olivenleder is made using residues from the olive oil industry. The process, which was first tested by Heller-Leder in 2011 and is known as wet green; hides are tanned using extracts from the leaves of olive trees, which are traditionally discarded and burned.
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.
Skoda said its use of Olivenleder was part of a wider choice of materials in the Enyaq iV that represented “a sustainability milestone”.
