20 may 2015

What about eco-leather?

Published in Italy the revision of UNI 11427 standard on leathers with low environmental impact

In Italy, the UNI 11427 standard establishes the “criteria for the definition of the performance characteristics of leathers with low environmental impact”. ‘Leathers with low environmental impact’ means eco-leather and similar terms. True leather, in short, that is even more precious because is tanned using highly sustainable methods.
The revision of the standard which was published in March 2015 introduced, compared to the first edition, a clearer distinction between vegetable-tanned leather and otherwise tanned leathers, the adaptation of some process indicators to the average values of the sector, and the adaptation of the indicators relating to wastewater discharge to consortium limits, even in case of derogation.

The news allows us to clarify some things. Many people, in fact, mistakenly think that eco-leather is a synthetically produced material that mimics the genuine leather and is usually obtained by coating a polyurethane resin on a textile support. As the Italian tanning industry wanted to ‘certify’ through the above mentioned UNI 11427 standard, the truth is quite different.

Italy is one of the few countries to have defined not only the quality parameters that products must meet, but also the minimum environmental standards that the whole production process should respect. On the matter, however, there is still much confusion. It’s time to make order taking for example just the Italian situation.

First of all, the UNI 11427 standard is applied to the leather whose production is intended from raw leather in whatever way it is preserved, that is to say from the beginning of tanning production process to the finished leather ready to be shipped and used in the manufacturing industry.
In order to certify the compliance of the UNI 11427 standard there is a registered logo issued by ICEC, the Italian certification institute for the leather sector.

The minimum process requirements are:
§  Compliance with law restrictions for the use of chemicals in the tannery industry.
§  Compliance with law restrictions for the use of chemicals in finished leathers.
§  Compliance with current legislation on the environment and any other related subject.
§  Compliance with the limits of specific environmental indicators (water consumption, chemicals, waste, etc.).

The minimum product requirements are:
§  Compliance with the health and safety requirements of consumers.
§  Performance of leathers complying with the specific product technical standards for the intended uses.

To recap, the UNI 11427 standard establishes that the eco-leather is a genuine leather; that only the leather produced according to a strict protocol of sustainability can be defined in this way; that this protocol establishes, among other things, the quantity of chemical reagents used in the different production steps.

What are the pluses of eco-leather? One of them is certainly the lower environmental compared to the the traditional leather, while the tactile and aesthetic features are the same. On the other hand, tanneries that produce eco-leather are few, quantities are limited and costs are consequently quite high.

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