The Leather Industry

The leather industry is one of the oldest industries in the world. Many thousend years ago, man decided that it was not a good idea to sleep on a hard rock and he started searching for alternatives, so that he didnt have to freeze any more.

The hide of the animal was his favorite upholstery and clothing material. Allready very early man found ways to preserve and tan the skin thaqt he got from the animals he eat.

BS 2780 Definition:

Hide or skin with its original fibrous structure more or less intact, tanned to be imputrescible. The hair or wool may or may not have been removed. It is also made from a hide or skin that has been split into layers or segmented either before or after tanning.

The leather industry produces about 1.8 Billion sqm of leather per year at a value of about 40 Billion USD. Additional to this we must know that 60% of all leather is produced in developing countries and this part is growing. About 65% of the world wide produced leather is made to shoes and the global production of shoes is about 11 Billion pairs at a value of about 150 Billion USD.

Worldwide there are 500.000 people working in the leather industry and the number is growing. The leather industry is a very globalised industry, allready at a time when the word globalisation was not known to the general public. The raw materials, semi finished products, finished leather, components and leather goods are widely imported and exported. The FAO has numbers to support this.

The industry has made important steps towards better enviromental protection. In the different production steps we apply the newest technologies that will ensure that the exhaustion of the applied chemicals is very high. The enviromental impact is keept at the lowest possible level. The water usage and chemical usage is reduced which leads to reduced waste.

Many new technologies such as bio tech, IT, and alternative preservation technology are widely used and implemented. Not biodegradable chemicals are not available any more and salt as a preservation agent is not necessary any more.

Waste such as hair and fleshings which naturally are produced during the production of leather are recycled to fertiliser and gelatine. Chrome tanning agents from the tanning process is recycled and reused. Even the waste water is reused after treatment.

But even with all these measures to avoid waste we still have a surten amount of waste that has to be put on a land fill. These land fills are however controlled by tough legislation.

The usage of organic solvents has been reduced and today most tanners work with water based systems in the finishing department where the top coat lacquers are applied. Degreasing, traditionally done with organic systems is today done by waterbased alternative systems. The unpleasant smell is reduced using biological and chemical systems. The industry is pro-activly changing into "cleaner" technologies and thereby reducing the negative impact on the enviroment.

Chromium III is widly used as the main tanning agent. About 90% of all leathers are produced using Chrome III. It is the most cost effective tanning agent. This chrome is not toxic. It is used since more than a 100 years. It has revolutionized the industry, enabeling to reduce the time of tanning from months to hours. It has given new properties to the leather, such as heat resistance and better dyability.

The toxicity of Chrome III is comparable with that of common salt. In the EU legislators have refused to put waste containing chrome III on the list of dangerous goods.

Leather is a fashionable product. Classical or modern, on many fairs thruout the world, tanners show their latest articles. If you want to survive in the market place you must always be on the cutting edge of technology.

In taste the customer is king. The Industry has to do the job of making sure that usability, estetics, fashionability is what the markets require.