Vegetable tanned vs. Chrome tanned (by some guy from the interweb)

[North_Star]

So i was googling something about chrome tanning and I stumbled upon these. And well... It's better if you guys see it with your own eyes.

 

[nick123]

Sounds like pro-vegetable propaganda for whatever company this is affiliated with. While it has its issues, a generalized "BAD" for chrome-tanning is a bit extreme and incomplete.

Most of the vintage jackets were chrome tanned and they've been around approaching a lifetime, still going strong. Also, you can have a fully analine chrome finish and get many of the same "earthy tones" as a veg jacket. He's probably right regarding the environment though...

 

[North_Star]

People try too hard to make their eco-friendly stuff to be better than anything else in any way. And if its clearly worse in something then don't even mention it. Like the water resistance, only one of these mention it.

 

[ton312]

I agree with all of it. Also, these are delicious

 

[North_Star]

If its beyond meat, then why you have to advertise it

 

[Guppy]

A lot of that information is misleading.

The true stuff:

Most leather is chrome tanned. Veg tanned leather takes longer, and is therefore more expensive.

Because it's a more expensive process, the hides selected for the process tend to be the better quality hides, because those will get the premium price that the more expensive process necessitates.

Tanning is not terribly environmentally friendly. I'm no expert, but I think veg tanning is probably less toxic, and the by-products of the process are more likely to be bio-degradable. Which is nice and all, but both processes use a lot of water, and the veg process requires the use of trees, for the bark, which at the scale they produce all leather at, if you scaled it up, I'm wondering just how sustainable the tree harvesting would be. "Environmentally friendly" and "sustainable" are vague and it's usually a matter of tradeoffs and "compared to what".

Both types of leather are durable and strong. Veg tanned leather tends to start out stiffer and have a harder hand.

The color aspect has more to do with how the leather is dyed than with the tanning process. I guess chrome tanned leather tends to be dyed more often. Leathers that have a topcoat, well that topcoat wears off eventually and you see the true leather underneath. Chrome tanned leathers tend to be dyed with a process that dyes through the entire hide.

Texture has nothing to do with the method of tanning, but again, since the more premium process tends to be used on the better quality hides, there's less likelihood that they will do split hides, corrected grains, or printed grains on a veg tanned leather. But that has everything to do with the quality of the hide used, and not the process. You can get nice top-grain chrome tanned naked leather that has beautiful grain if you want it.

So some of that info is true, some of it tends to be true, but isn't for the reason implied/given, and some of it is outright false.

 

[Colin G]

Every time I read the word patina a part of me dies.

 

[navetsea]

seems like heavily biased article. I do want veg tanned leather for outsole, belt, and wallet, but for jacket I rather have chrome tanned, not too sensitive to stain and need lot less care in general.

patina always reminds me of chicken liver pate, thats why I like the sound.

 

[red devil]

That guy had to mention "organic" in his propaganda lol

 

[red devil]

We should ask him his opinion on brain tanning

 

[navetsea]

Cow brain cut in chunks dipped into eggwhite and then deep fried tastes good.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Every time I read the word patina a part of me dies.

Nice line. Me too.

 

[jonbuilder]

Cow brain cut in chunks dipped into eggwhite and then deep fried tastes good.

Sound good up to the deep-fried

 

[rockandrollrabbit]

Every time I read the word patina a part of me dies.

Can you expand on that a bit?

 

[Mr Peabody]

A bit off topic but while listening to Motorhead the other day I was reciting the lyrics to Iron Horse Born To Lose . If Lemme wore Chrome tanned then it's cool.

"He rides a road that don't have no end
An open highway without any bends
Tramp and his stallion, alone in a dream
Proud in his colours, as the chromium gleams"

and this is from heavy metal band Saxon

"Denim and Leather
Brought us all together
It was you that set the spirit free"

Metallica
No Life till leather

Venom- Women, Leather and Hell

Judas Priest
Hell Bent for Leather

back to topic.

 

[Guppy]

The gleaming chromium can only be a reference to motorcycle chrome.

 

[Mr Peabody]

I thought about chromium plating on a bike but also why not the shine of his leather jacket? lol

 

[El Marro]

A bit off topic but while listening to Motorhead the other day I was reciting the lyrics to Iron Horse Born To Lose . If Lemme wore Chrome tanned then it's cool.

"He rides a road that don't have no end
An open highway without any bends
Tramp and his stallion, alone in a dream
Proud in his colours, as the chromium gleams"

and this is from heavy metal band Saxon

"Denim and Leather
Brought us all together
It was you that set the spirit free"

Metallica
No Life till leather

Venom- Women, Leather and Hell

Judas Priest
Hell Bent for Leather

back to topic.

Don’t forget London Leatherboys by Accept.

 

[Mr Peabody]

This is my fave Burnin’ Leather by Bathory

 

[TREEMAN]

North Star must have gotten lost ….