Style wasn’t the only thing on the minds of leather makers at the recent Interwoven home textile fair in High Point, N.C. The semi-annual show, which brings together upholstery and leather companies with furnishings manufacturers and interior designers, gives buyers a first look at the trends that will shape home design in the coming seasons. And one of the biggest trends at this fall’s show was sustainable leather.
Though that may sound like an oxymoron, high-end leather makers at Interwoven touted environmentally friendly solutions for the material, which they say is inherently sustainable since it is a byproduct of the meat industry.
“Leather starts off as a waste material,” said R. Sackett Wood, chief executive officer of Moore & Giles. “The tanner’s role is to pick these hides off of the doorsteps of the world, scientifically preserve them and artistically transform them into what you know as leather.”
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, around 340 million cattle hides are produced globally each year by the meat industry. Of those hides, only about 40 percent, or around 134 million, get saved from the landfill for leather use. And the Leather and Hide Council of America estimates that one metric ton of hides in a landfill generates more than 13 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Companies like Moore & Giles — which has produced leather for furniture, as well as fashion, automotive, aviation and other industries since 1933 — have taken that baseline of keeping hides from the landfill and expanded their sustainability practices. A few years ago the company introduced its Declare program, which Wood likened to a nutrition label for food, verified by third-party agencies as being Red List chemical-free. The Declare label — which comes on 20 of Moore & Giles’ collections — also outlines life expectancy and end-life options for the leather, as well as origin and volatile organic compounds (VOC) off-gassing.
“What’s nice about this is it’s very understandable and digestible, and it’s really starting to matter to people,” Wood said. “We have people taking pictures of the tag and asking about it.”
At Interwoven, Moore & Giles introduced a range of new colors in its Mont Blanc carbon-neutral line, including on-trend pink and mauve, as well as classic neutrals and earthy greens and blues.
Sustainability was a big story for Italian leather company Dani as well. The company brought a range of new collections to Interwoven, including performance nubuck that boasts water- and stain-resistance, double pull-ups and distressed styles, all with an earth-friendly story.
The new colors of leather at Dani. Courtesy photo.
“We only source European hides that have been certified by EU regulations for the ethical treatment of animals,” said Ryan McConnell, sales and business development at Dani. “We also only buy hides from nearby the tannery to lower our carbon footprint.”
Dani operates a full-cycle tannery, meaning it buys the raw hides directly from farms, which allows the company to control carbon emissions at every stage of the tanning process.
“Part of our leather is zero carbon footprint, and what’s not we make up,” McConnell said. “We have reforestation programs in Italy that we work with, and we do a lot with the U.N. regarding water treatment. And all of our energy is 100 percent renewable — solar and wind energy runs the tannery.”
Fellow Italian maker Gruppo Mastrotto also boasts carbon-neutral collections thanks to energy offsets through solar power at its facilities, as well as USDA-certified biodegradable and organic leathers.
“These collections are metal-free, so not finished with any chrome metal tanning,” said Carla Bluitt, president of Gruppo Mastrotto North America. “We only use organic materials in the tanning process.”
Gruppo Mastrotto recently opened a warehouse in High Point, and Bluitt said the company has focused on the interior designer business, offering a range of colors and styles, as well as minimum orders of only one hide.
“We love working with interior designers, and a lot of times they’re focused on color,” she said. “That’s why we’re expanding our color range. Most of the furniture manufacturers are going for gray or brown, but we like to add a pop of color for the designers.”
A member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, Optima Leathers had its green story front and center at Interwoven as well.
“The cool thing about working in Italy is it’s the most green place to process leather,” said Chase Hawkins, vice president of sales, residential upholstery, at Optima Leathers. “Where we’re located, in Arzignano, there’s a big river, so we have to operate as cleanly as possible, with no diluting of the chemicals or anything like that.”
Optima launched several collections, including Veil, which is an aniline leather with a wax finish that gives it a high-low effect, and El Paso, a performance leather finished with a protectant that resists stains.
The new collections at Optima.
With innovations in tanning and finishing, such as olive tanning using leaves from olive trees leading to the elimination of harmful chemicals, and renewable energy use offsetting carbon emissions, the leather industry is working to make strides toward being more sustainable. And Wood said that as long as people eat meat, there will always be a need for leather companies to solve the problem of hide waste.
“The prevention of a wasteful use of resource is the definition of conservation,” Wood contended. “I want people to think when they’re choosing leather that they’re just not getting something beautiful and luxurious, but they’re also solving for a waste problem. If people stop eating meat, we’ll do something else.”
