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In this section, we're going to tell you why at Darjeeling, we choose Premium leathers with vegetable tanning that protect the environment.
First of all... what is tanning?
To explain it simply, tanning is the process of turning perishable animal skin into non-perishable leather. There are three tanning methods: chrome tanning, chrome-free tanning, and vegetable tanning. Let's tell you a bit about the two most important ones:
CHROME TANNING:
Chrome tanning preserves the skin using chromium salts and other chemicals. These quickly change the leather's composition, making it soft and flexible enough for a wide variety of applications. Before tanning, the skins intended for chrome tanning are passed through a cutting machine to divide them into thinner pieces. That's why chrome-tanned products are thinner than those produced by vegetable tanning.
But although the leather produced by chrome tanning is safe, the chemicals used in its creation are not. If not managed properly, toxic wastewater containing heavy metals like chromium becomes a strong pollutant, filtering into the soil and groundwater systems. These chemicals are known to affect the eyes, lungs, liver, kidneys, skin, and lymph nodes of those who come into contact with them.
Another drawback is that chrome-tanned leather is not as durable as vegetable-tanned leather and often cracks or becomes brittle over time. Applying a wax or waterproof spray designed for leather can delay deterioration, but the leather still doesn't last as long as vegetable-tanned leather.
VEGETABLE TANNING:
Vegetable tanning uses vegetable tannins instead of chemicals to remove water from the skin and to stabilize and preserve collagen, its main structural protein. Tannin is a natural compound found in tree bark, such as Argentine quebracho, among others. To tan leather using this method, skins are usually stretched on wooden frames and then soaked in a series of drums or pits containing an increasingly concentrated tannic acid solution. At the end of the process, the skins become resilient, durable, unique, and well-preserved leather. It usually takes longer to tan leather using this method, but the result is leather with distinctive aesthetics and feel that ages wonderfully.
Why choose vegetable-tanned leather?
Leather produced by vegetable tanning results in products that last much longer and do not tend to crack or break. These products tend to adapt to the users' needs, becoming better over time. For example, a vegetable-tanned boot may seem initially rigid, but over time it softens slightly and becomes more comfortable and flexible.
Vegetable-tanned leather products are unique and unrepeatable, can be recycled, have a longer product lifespan, and are made with natural ingredients.
Above all mentioned, at the end of its lifespan, leather degrades through chemical and biological processes. Leather is rich in carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen; three elements that bacteria and fungi like to consume. In a normal landfill, it generally biodegrades within a period of 10 to 50 years; much faster, for example, than synthetic materials, which take between 100 and 500 years (polyethylene) or more (PVC and polypropylene). Unlike plastic, leather is harmless to oceans and does not pose the danger of microplastic formation.
If you have more questions about the processes and characteristics, you can leave your comments on our social media. You can also share this content to raise more social awareness about the type of leather you are buying when you purchase leather.
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