Pioneers of bio-circular leathers for more sustainable fashion

The Silvateam company has a tradition of more than 150 years in the production of plant extracts, natural tannins, and their derivatives. In 2020, the company launched Ecotan, a revolutionary bio-circular and sustainable tanning process. «Ecotan technology is an advanced, 100% metal-free system that combines the effectiveness of natural extracts, such as tannins, with the modernity of a high-tech development such as biopolymers - explains Alessandra Taccon, Ecotan Project Director - A challenge created during the pandemic and launched on the fashion market to offer a scalable technology even for large volumes, an alternative to the traditional chromium and glutaraldehyde-based concepts».

Ecotan already has more than forty partner tanneries around the world, protagonists of a new “green” chemistry applied to tanning: «Leathers tanned with Ecotan products and processing waste are bio-circular - says Massimo Gotti, Marketing Manager of Silvateam - that is, they can be recycled and transformed into a bio-fertiliser at the end of their life, returning the substances initially borrowed back to nature. The concept of circularity is intrinsic in the DNA of our company. For example, chestnut tannin is not only used in the tanning of hides, but is also applied upstream in animal feed, helping to improve the animals’ health and reduce environmental impact, while spent wood is transformed into pellets for domestic and industrial heating».