Introduction
There are many different tanning methods that can be used during the leather production process, but rose tanned leather is one of the most unusual—and also one of the most expensive. What makes this tanning method so unique?
What is Rose Tanned Leather?
Essentially, rose tanned leather is a novel variation on the more commonly encountered vegetable tanned leather. The difference is simple: vegetable tanned leather is tanned with vegetable-based oils, whereas rose tanned leather uses pure rose otto, an extremely rare oil created through the distillation of rose petals. Even calling rose otto ‘rare’ might be selling it short; to produce a single drop of rose otto, it can take nearly two thousand rose petals.
Is Rose Tanned Leather Sustainable?
Vegetable tanned leather is among the most sustainable methods out there when it comes to tanning leather, and because leather tanned using rose otto is a slight modification of the vegetable tanning process, it might seem at first like it should be equally sustainable. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.
It’s true that the leather production process itself avoids using harsh chemicals, but that’s not the whole story. There’s a significant environmental impact involved in producing rose otto. Like we mentioned earlier, it takes thousands of rose petals to produce just one drop of rose otto, which already should suggest something about the amount of water required and the agricultural cost of growing so many roses.
Far more worrying than the carbon footprint of flower production is the carbon footprint of flower transportation. Most flowers are imported from African and Latin American countries, accompanied by a dizzying amount of carbon dioxide emissions. In 2018, the International Council on Clean Transportation published an article which estimated that 360,000 metric tons of CO2 were emitted by flights carrying flowers from Columbia to the United States between January 1 and February 14.
Why Buy Rose Tanned Leather?
If you’re doubtful whether such a strange ingredient is capable of producing good leather, you’d be forgiven. However, the quality of rose tanned leather is actually quite good. The durability is comparable to leather tanned in a more traditional manner, but the use of rose otto is unmistakable; it’s not unusual for the aroma of roses to stick around on this leather for years.
Why Avoid Rose Tanned Leather?
As discussed above, the environmental cost of producing rose otto is a problem. Sustainability is an important value of the Buffalo Billfold Company, so although rose tanned leather has its merits, we feel that the CO2 emissions put it at a serious disadvantage.
We’ve already mentioned that rose tanned leather is one of the most expensive leathers out there, but the cost might still surprise you. If you want an leather product tanned with rose otto, you’ll need to be prepared to pay upwards of $5,000. However, even if you’re willing to pay the price, there’s yet another barrier to entry. Leather made using this method is so rare that, as far as we can tell, there’s only one producer of it in the entire world.
In short, the costs of producing and buying leathers tanned with rose otto oils are just too prohibitive. We love seeing all the different ways that leather can be made, but at least for now, rose tanned leather doesn’t seem like much more than an experiment.
