In response to increased demand for ‘cavallino’ (horse leather), Italian leather chemicals producer ChimontGroup has launched two new lubricating products to address the specific characteristics of equine leather.

Although equine is already used for trims in luxury garments, according to ChimontGroup, fashion houses now wish to produce full garments using the material, which has raised the issue of balancing the leather’s high specific gravity with achieving acceptable softness.

Horse skin has a naturally high specific gravity that results in heavy clothes and limited developments and, until now, this weight has been increased through the addition of chemical products needed to process and soften it. However, ChimontGroup believes it has found a solution to the problem with the development of special lubricating oils—Chimoil SU and Chimoil E/4—that are said to produce a light leather that is extremely soft.