The advantages of chrome tanning technique
Regulated by strict restrictions to safeguard health, chrome tanning turns out today to be a widely used technique that is not harmful at all. It presents also some distinct advantages over the more traditional vegetable tanning, such as the reduced processing time, lower costs, the wide possibility of coloring the leather itself after tanning. Tuscan Group also offers chrome-tanned leathers as an alternative to the vegetable, always ensuring high quality products at more competitive prices.
Chrome tanning
What chromium tanning consists of
As the name itself suggests, this particular tanning process is carried out using chromium salts, derived from this very heavy metal. It is necessary to first specify that, in order to preserve the health of workers, the European Union has banned the use of certain substances that could be dangerous and harmful. The trivalent chromium that is used in tanning processes reacts in a very particular way with the collagen in the leather, which has previously undergone beating, a special processing using common salt and acid. Chromium leather takes on, as a result of chemical reactions, a particular blue-gray color and can be subsequently dyed with different colors.
The differences between chrome leathers and vegetable leathers
There are some differences between chrome tanning and vegetable tanning techniques. In addition to the type of tanning substances, totally natural for vegetable skins, mineral for chrome leathers, the two processes also differ on timing, on costs and on environmental impact. In fact, chrome leather is of faster processing, with lower costs and the possibility of coloring in various dyes. Vegetable tanning, on the other hand, allows the preservation of the more natural odor and appearance characteristics, but involves longer processing times and higher costs. Regarding environmental impact, chrome leather definitely has a greater impact than vegetable tanning.
