The initiative promoted by partners of the Ecotan metal-free tanning project by Silvateam has allowed brands to get a glimpse of the quality and variety of this innovative class of leather.
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Last April, at Hashtag Florence’s beautiful showroom in Santa Croce sull’Arno (Italy), four Tuscan tanneries presented their collections to the style offices of fashion brands in the first Ecotan Openhouse. The event gave the participants the opportunity to discover the innovative tanning system applied to different raw materials for the creation of a wide range of leather articles. For example: footwear, bags, belts, leather goods and clothing.
Silvateam Openhouse Ecotan
Hashtag Florence (photo below right)
During the Openhouse, Hashtag Florence presented the new Terra collection, made with trendy colors on suede splits, extremely ductile and soft to the touch. The properties of the tannins inside the leather allow it to limit bacterial proliferation and the formation of bad odors. Thus, these leathers are suitable not only for leather goods and clothing, but also for the production of footwear linings.
“With Ecotan we can create biocircular leathers without modifying our production processes, apart from extending the length of the tanning cycle by around 15%”, says Lucio Verbeni. “This technology allows us to give new life to both leather and leather scraps by transforming them into fertilizers for organic farming and making the tanning process even more sustainable”.
Conceria La Scarpa (photo above right)
Among the leathers exhibited by La Scarpa, the most popular was Gaiole, certified biodegradable and compostable. On the basis of this material, several variants have taken shape: from printed saffiano for leather goods, up to covered nappa leathers designed for the upper segments of the market which requires a particular aesthetic. “We believe in the philosophy expressed by this type of tanning that focuses on naturalness and attention to the environment”, explains Maurizio Casini. “We want our leathers to come out of the drum practically ready, without being subjected to further finishing or processing, keeping their naturalness intact in order to transfer it to the finished article”.
DVS tannery (photo below left)
Conceria DVS has developed the Queen and King product ranges, made with lambskin of various thicknesses for both footwear and clothing. The wide variety of colors displayed exalts the quality of the Ecotan tanning system which proves effective even on smaller leather cuts.
“We joined the Ecotan project after being solicited by luxury brands”, underlines Gian Andrea Pezzoli. “I have to praise the Silvateam technicians for their support. Together we were able to take a further step forward, improving the performance of Ecotan tanning and applying it to leathers also in a bisphenol-free version”.
Polaris & Co tannery (photo above left)
Polaris, on the other hand, has developed two different collections with Ecotan: Green and Green Soft, dedicated to footwear and leather goods. Incredibly soft nappas, capable of enhancing the naturalness and beauty given by the tannins. “Tannery Polaris & Co has earned over the years an important position in finishing, specializing more and more in handcrafted and trendy products. Now with Ecotan we can continue to offer the usual quality and unmistakable style, while taking care of the environment at the same time”, says Enrico Bini.
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