Bridge of Weir, supplier of Fine Automotive Leather to the world’s most-respected luxury car brands, announced the launch of two revolutionary tanning technologies, BioTAN and FreeTAN, marking another significant step forward in the development of next-generation, bio-based and biodegradable leather.
Tanning is the production process where the structural protein called collagen is stabilised and where the raw material becomes leather. Bridge of Weir’s two new technologies, which have been intensively developed over the last four years, will increase the bio-content and end-of-life biodegradability properties of its leather, as well as remove fossil fuel, oil-derived components and heavy metals from its processes and products to achieve a circular future for natural leather.
As part of the BioTAN journey, this first phase represents a pioneering hybrid technology that incrementally increases the bio-content within the chrome-free leather tanning process to above 50%, resulting in finished products without compromising on aesthetics or performance. By progressively replacing traditional components with bio-based materials, BioTAN achieves a balance between environmental sustainability, performance and quality.
FreeTAN offers a full replacement of existing tanning chemistry with compostable technology. Completely chrome-free, heavy metal-free, and aldehyde-free with promising biodegradability properties, FreeTAN sets new sustainability standards while delivering finished leather products with exceptional performance.