Director of sales and marketing at Olivenleder, Thomas Lamparter, has said that recent conversations with major automotive groups have convinced him that the vegetable-based pre-tanning agent is “no longer a niche product”. By Leatherbiz.

In February, Italian leather chemicals group Silvateam acquired a majority stake in the company that developed Olivenleder, wet-Green GmbH. Silvateam said it viewed Olivenleder, which uses residues from the olive oil industry, as an ideal complement to its Ecotan range of technologies. Both involve the use of only 100% bio-based, natural products in the making of leather.

In the course of May, Thomas Lamparter and the director of Silvateam’s leather business unit, Antonio Battaglia, visited three major automotive groups. After these visits, Mr Lamparter said they buyers they spoke to were well informed and showed “a high level of interest”.

One factor he highlighted was that Silvateam’s ability to produce Olivenleder at scale was making the product competitive, price-wise, with conventional tanning technologies. “Price is, of course, a significant factor,” he said.

He said people in the automotive teams they talked to were particularly receptive to the high bio-content in leather made using Olivenleder and Ecotan and suggested that this was something that consumers would like.

There were also conversations about using dual Olivenleder and Ecotan certification for leather in car interiors, with the material being upcycled into organic fertiliser at the end of life and supporting new plant growth rather than going to waste.