All about Olive-Tanned Leather

Ahhh, Olea europaea: the olive. What does this beautiful, tasty little fruit (yep, it’s a fruit) have to do with leather, you ask? Something quite ingenious, actually. 

We’re really talking about olive leaves, the key ingredient to a new, sustainable leather tanning process that uses byproduct from the olive oil industry. We recently launched a new olive-tanned leather on our site that would make any sofa luxurious, and thought we’d use this space to explain why they’re a more eco-friendly option. Intrigued? Let’s learn more. 

Why + how leather is tanned

Pictured: Dying pits filled with natural vegetable dyes at Chouara Tannery in Fez, Morocco, reputed to be one of the oldest tanneries in the world

Let’s cover the basics first: “tanning" is a general term for converting animal hides into finished leather. While just one part of the leather-making process, proper tanning is about the most important step: after several steps of cleaning and preparing the hides, tanning is what makes leather durable, breathable, and resistant to decay.

The tanning process triggers a reaction of collagen fibers in the hide via various agents, like trivalent chromium or vegetable tannins from tree bark such as Willow, Chestnut, and Birch. Tanning derives its name from tannin, a chemical compound found in some bark and plant tissue; in other words, tannins in leather-making (like those in wine) have a unique effect on the substance to which they are bonded.

Fun fact: vegetable tanning is the oldest reported tanning method (side note: leather making has been practiced for more than 7,000 years!). By about 400 BCE, Egyptians and Hebrews had developed vegetable tanning via simple drying and curing techniques using Oak bark and Babul pods. 

Still used today, vegetable tanning basically involves soaking hides in large vats of extracted and processed tannin juice for weeks or months. Many other tanning methods have since developed–synthetic tanning, tanning with fats and oils, and tawing, to name a few—and some are much faster, less expensive processes, like chrome tanning (the most popular).

What makes olive-tanned leather sustainable?

So why tan with olive leaves? Sustainability in the leather market has become a rising concern; chrome tanning, mentioned above, is employed by around 80% of the leather industry and can produce waste that is toxic and polluting. While traditionally used without harsh chemicals, vegetable tanning has been said to threaten deforestation for some areas where slow-growing trees have been clear cut and killed for their tannins, such as Quebracho trees in Uruguay and Argentina.

Olive Green Leather from Moore & Giles is created from fallen olive leaves in the Mediterranean region, which have traditionally been burned rather than repurposed after olive harvesting for olive oil production. Olive Tanned Leather uses 100% organic, purely aqueous olive leaf extract to achieve mineral-free tanning and is Olivenleder® certified with a cradle to cradle™ gold certification.

Pictured: Dekayess Sofa in one of our new olive-tanned leathers, Sundance Marigold ⁠

But wait, there’s more: olive green leather tanning uses less water and energy to produce than chrome tanning, and the harvesting process creates sustainable wages and jobs. And finally, the environmental standards of the tanneries Moore & Giles uses are rated GOLD by LWG (Leather Working Group). 

Olive-tanned leathers at Medley

Pictured: Mayer Pouf in our new olive-tanned leather, Sundance Marigold ⁠

Offering a more eco-friendly leather option is one among many ways we're continually striving to improve our sustainable practices and offerings at Medley. 

Our Sundance Marigold 100% Full Grain leather (left) is beautifully distressed, waxed and aged. It also develops a beautiful patina as time moves on: yep, that’s heirloom quality right there. Super durable, and pet + kid-friendly. Ready to order a free leather sample? You can do that right here.