With Terracare, Heinen Leder has developed a brand to stand for exemplary leather. The animal skins, which are processed for this, come from 95% from Germany, the remaining 5% from Europe. Only certified auxiliary substances are used for the tanning. But: it is tanned with chrome salts. So far, vegetable tanning has been dispensed with because, according to Heinen Leder, it was only possible with the use of aldehyde. With this highly toxic fabric, it is placed in order to later grab vegetable, for example on the basis of olives. The Wegberger company explains that they did not want to work with aldehyde and therefore primarily tanned with chrome. In contrast, herbal tanning was only used if customers explicitly wish.
But now there is a new option: The NERA-Tanning process is based on the naturally occurring crystal Zeolith and not only enables the vegetable tanning, but also the compostability of the leather. At Nera Tanning, Zeolith is tanned and afterwards in plant. The resulting product is therefore not only aldehyde -free, but also a bisphenol arm. It is conditionally repellent, but, the company admits it, not as strongly as chrome -engined leather.
“The demand for chrome -free tanned leather increases. Thanks to Nera Tanning, we can now hunt down without herbal and thus expand our Terracare portfolio, ”explains Thomas Heinen, Managing Director of Heinen Leder. His company now wanted to go first and push the trend. The first customer orders for Terracare CF have already been received. Between 10 and 15% price surcharge result in the compostable variant of Terracare. This is mainly due to the tannin that is used for the material.
The new Mateiral was presented for the first time on the Lineapelle in Milan in autumn 2024. Thomas Heinen worried the cautious mood in the market: “I hope that it will soon be going up again. You can only hear bad news. These are not good conditions. “
