Tanning Agents...
Vegetable Tannage – leaving nature untouched
Ecopell choose real leather made by Ecopell means Ecopell deliberately employs some of the finest raw materials nature has to offer. Ecopell meets this exclusive demand. Instead of the customary chrome Ecopell uses purely vegetable substances for tanning such as tare, valonea, and rhubarb– thus real leather remains a noble and safe product of nature.We have placed further information on these tanning substances in a pdf file. Just have a look and discover what makes Ecopell Nappa, Velour, Antique Collection and Lining Leather so unique.
Valonea tanning agent
Tara tanning agent
Valonea bloom
Valonea tanning agent
Valonea fruit
Valonea tanning agent
The tanning substances is delivered via the cups of various mediteranean types of oak (such as Quercus valonea). The ripe cups with their scales rich in tanning substances (known as trillo) are harvested predominantly in Turkey and Greece.
By different ways of running the tanning process and the subsequent treatment of the leather both soft and snuggling as well as firm and strong kinds of leather can be produced. Such leathers are suitable for upholstered furniture, as upper leather for shoes, as lining within footwear and handbags, or for the manufacture of leather goods. Valonea tanned leather has a light resistance of grade 3 to 4, which is superior to many other vegetable tanned types of leather.
Tara harvest
Tara fruit
Tara tanning agent
Tara tanning agent
The tara tanning substance is extracted from the pods of the small tara tree (caesalpinia spinosa). These trees grow in the mild climate of the valleys of the Peruvian Andes. Most of the trees grow wild, only few numbers are planted by the local farmers as protection against erosion and natural boundaries of their fields. In April the tara pods are picked, without damage to the trees. The selling of the pods is an important source of income for the rural population of Peru.
The valuable substances of the yellow-red tara pods have been used for hundreds of years ago as a remedy against sore throat by the Peruvian population. The pods and their substances have been used in other fields as well: as a basic substance in the production of dyes, as a reducing agent in the chemical industry and as a fining agent in the production of spirits. The pods have a high content of tanning substances of about 50 %. The tara tanning substance creates a cream-colored leather which can easily be dyed and has a high resistance to light. There are soft and strong types of tara leather available. They can be used for car seats, shoes, furniture or clothing.