Madrid Leather: A Powerful Sustainability Story

Crafted in Spain, from Pamplona Bull hides, the Madrid leather line has a natural aesthetic that shows off all of the inherent markings and unique characteristics of the hides. Madrid leather by our partners Moore & Giles continues to grow in popularity, after its debut in 2020. We love Madrid’s sustainability story – tanning a byproduct (hides from the meat industry) with a byproduct (fallen olive leaves from the olive oil industry)! 

Traditionally, “green leather” would fall under the vegetable-tanned leathers, which continues to be the oldest artisanal tanning method. But traditional vegetable tanning has its limitations. Colors tend to be restricted to rich, warm, earthy colors, rather than a broad spectrum found in mineral tanning. Vegetable-tanned leather is well-suited for sturdier applications like footwear, luggage, and accessories, but is much more difficult to use in furniture applications. 

Enter: Olive Leaf Tanning

Olive Green Leather is leather developed in 2006 using the latest technology in tanning leather: wet-green® tanning. This technology uses fallen leaves from olive trees – an existing byproduct that has always just been collected and burned – as a tanning agent. The wet-green® tanning agent is a 100% organic olive leaf extract from the fallen olive leaves, much like a brewed tea. Olive Green leather requires less water and energy to produce and is 100% natural. The dyes are also water-soluble and the finish contains no harmful or toxic chemicals. We’re not joking when we say you could actually eat the tanning agent! 

After tanning, hides are finished with natural oils with water-soluble lacquer bases to achieve a brilliant polished surface and eye-catching color transparency.  Olive Green Leather joins the world of rich colors and brings a more supple hand in a sustainable leather product. This technique should be the future of leather tanning – we can’t stop staring.

Madrid is a magnificent leather.  Its rich colors showcase the natural character of the hide.  While starting out quite waxy, this leather will soften and patina into a less shiny, simply exquisite result.