Environmentally Friendly Leather Tanning

Environmentally friendly leather tanning

Many of our customers are deeply concerned about the environment. They want a great wallet, of course. But they also want to support skilled craftspeople working with responsibly sourced material. We’re always looking for new ways to deliver on those expectations here at Buffalo Billfold Company. You can be assured that the leather we use in our Buffalo leather goods is tanned using environmentally friendly methods!

Vegetable Leather Tanning

You might have heard this process called Vegetable Leather Tanning. The two terms are largely interchangeable. Both refer to a process for tanning hides that employs vegetable tannins rather than chromium salts. Interestingly, the tannins usually come from trees rather than vegetables.

Why would a tanner choose vegetable leather tanning?

Pros:

• Doesn’t use heavy metals so healthier for the leather workers.
• It creates extremely durable, supple leathers.
• Far superior to synthetic leathers.
• It doesn’t use chromium salts, azo dyes, or PCP, any of which can cause skin irritation.
• It ages beautifully, with colors and patterns intensifying with use.
• Worn out products are completely biodegradable as each step of the tanning process used only natural ingredients.

Cons:

• Much more time consuming process.
• Requires more skilled craftspeople to do properly.
• Both of the above make vegetable tanned leather more expensive.
• Resulting leathers aren’t uniform so can be difficult to use if conformity of color or pattern is desired.
• Not as soft or flexible as chrome-tanned leather but research shows that adding natural enzymes to the vegetable tanning process has the potential to improve this shortcoming
• Colors limited by nature
• Stains more easily, especially by iron.
• Can shrink or crack if exposed to direct heat.

What’s the process?

• A tanner soaks the prepared hides in vats of natural tannins — often soaked bark from certain trees.
• The tanner removes the hides from the tannin vat once they are the desired color and dries them. He/She will sometime shave the hides to different thicknesses. (See LEATHER GRADES page for more info on this.)
• The tanner can choose to further dye the hides with a second soak in a dye vat. Once he/she has achieved the desired color, he moves on to oiling and conditioning the leather.
• The tanner then applies a sealant wax, and the leather is ready to be worked.
• Entire process takes about six weeks.

Still looking for more information? Head back to the KNOWLEDGE CENTER & check out the LEATHER TANNING TYPES section!