In order to use the trademark Vegetable Tanned Leather in Tuscany, our associated tanneries must comply with the Technical Production Regulations issued by Consortium. This document is not a simple modus operandi which associated tanneries can change some parts but it’s a binding agreement that must be strictly respected.
Vegetable Tanned Leather in Tuscany: 5 requirements
The Technical Production Regulations defines “vegetable-tanned leather”, based on 5 fundamental requirements.
Material: Hides/Leather
The first requirement of the document defines the prime matter: “Leather is a hide or skin with its original fibrous structure more or less intact, tanned to be imputrescible“.
Of course there are other tecnhical constraints:
- Leather is also made from hide or skin which has been split into layers or segments before or after tanning
- If the tanned hide or skin is disitegrated mechanically and/or chemically into fibrous particles, small pieces or powders and then, with or without the combination of a binding agent, is made into sheets or other forms, they are “not” leather
- If the leather has a finishing layer, regardless of how it has been applied, or a layer paired with glue, these layers should not be ticker than 0.15 mm
Hides may derive from any type of raw material of animal origin and, once tanned, may be destined to any use (e.g. leather accessories, footwear, furnitures, saddlery, clothing, car interiors).
Definition of vegetable tanning
The second requirement of the Technical Specifications concerns the qualitative definition of Vegetable tanning, according to the International Glossary of Leather Terms:
“Hides, exclusively tanned with vegetable tanning materials or with said materials and the addition of small amounts of other ingredients used only to facilitate the tanning process or to improve or change the tanned material, but not in such amounts as to considerably alter the essential features of the vegetable tanning of the product”.
The production process exclusively made in Tuscany
Finished hides are identified as originating from the geographical area of Tuscany if, starting from pre-tanned hides, they have been fully processed in Tuscany for the qualifying steps of their processing: tanning, retanning, dyeing and fatting.
If (some or all of) the qualifying processing steps have been outsourced to third parties by the Consortium Member and licensor of the Trademark:
- The outsourcers must have registered offices and operating premises in Tuscany;
- The Consortium Member and licensor of the Trademark who outsourced said qualifying processing steps to third parties must prove that, in any case, their production facility is equipped to independently implement the qualifying processing steps that they have outsourced to third parties (having the necessary equipment and facilities for the implementation of those processing steps).
The purchase by the Consortium Member and licensor of the Trademark of hides at later processing stages, i.e. after pre-tanning, is admissible, provided that the suppliers that have completed the qualifying processing steps are members of the Consortium and that the hides purchased comply with the requirements of these Technical Specifications.
“Dry semi-finished hide” (e.g. crust) imported ‘as is’ in Tuscany means a hide that has received all the qualifying processing steps outside the Tuscan territory, and for which, as a consequence, these Technical Specifications and Trademark restrictions do not apply.
The quality of finished leather
Vegetable Tanned Leather in Tuscany must comply with Consumer Health & Safety requirements provided for by national legislation, UNI 10885-2012 requirements and supplementary quality requirements.
As a guarantee for customers and consumers the quality standards of the finished hides of the Consortium Members and Licensors of the Trademark shall be tested in third-parties qualified laboratories.
Use of the trademark
The Trademark refers to the product, specifically to the hides and other items made with hides in full compliance with the requirements of the technical specifications.
When the Trademark Vegetable Tanned Leather in Tuscany is allowed to be used on documents and general corporate supports (not leather), the Trademark shall always be accompanied by the wording “Aderente al consorzio” (Member of the Consortium).
The Consortium Member and Licensor of the Trademark shall also be in the condition to explain the meaning of the Trademark to its customers by specifying that it refers to the product.
