The LIFE I’M TAN project draws to a close. Launched in September 2021 and funded by the European Union under the LIFE programme (LIFE20 ENV/IT/000759), the initiative set out to enhance traditional vegetable tanning and retanning processes through the development of a new generation of high-performance natural tannins. These innovative extracts undergo innovative purification and chemical-physical modification processes. Production is currently at the pilot stage, with market analysis, feasibility studies and cost assessments underway to support the scale-up to full industrial manufacturing.

The project was carried out by five Italian companies, all directly or indirectly connected to the leather tanning industry and was coordinated by Silvateam. These partners are Crossing, Centro Ricerca per la Chimica Fine (CRCF), Incas tannery and the Aquarno Consortium.

PROJECT GOALS AND CONCEPT

The primary objective of the LIFE I’M TAN project was to develop and validate a new generation of innovative, purified and chemically modified natural tannins. These advanced tannins are designed not only to enhance existing vegetable tanning processes but also to enable entirely new, more sustainable solutions. Central to the project is a strong commitment to environmental, economic and social sustainability, as well as a forward-looking vision, aligning with forthcoming EU regulations such as the Digital Product Passport and the Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products.

Over the course of four years of research and applied development, the project successfully designed a new class of natural tannins derived from botanical sources such as chestnut and quebracho wood. These groundbreaking tanning agents offer environmentally sustainable alternatives, contributing to a reduced reliance on hazardous chemicals, decreased water consumption and improved wastewater quality.

In parallel, the project assessed the feasibility of valorising by-products from the tannin production, as well as leather scraps and trimmings, by transforming them into high value-added solutions, demonstrating a practical and scalable model of circular economy.

The entire research and development process was carried out following a rigorous analytical methodology based on specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the leather and technical evaluations aligned with the standards set by the leather tanning industry and the extremely demanding automotive and fashion brands.

ACTIONS AND KEY RESULTS

The LIFE I’M TAN project was structured around several core activities:

– Benchmarking and environmental analysis: A thorough evaluation of conventional tanning technologies currently used in the market was conducted to establish baseline environmental impact indicators. This benchmarking served as a critical reference point, enabling the quantification of improvements achieved through the application of the newly developed modified tannins.

– Development of purified and enhanced natural tannins: Led by a dedicated green chemistry team from Silvateam, Crossing and CRCF, the project designed advanced processes for the purification and chemical modification of natural tannins. The resulting extracts demonstrated significantly improved chemical and physical characteristics compared to conventional benchmarks. Several of these new tannins deliver enhanced performance while requiring lower application dosages, thanks to their higher concentration of active ingredients. Others, distinguished by a notably lighter colour than standard tannins, possess optimal chemical properties for stabilising hides during the pickle phase, contributing to a reduction in the use of fossil-derived compounds in the pre-tanning process.

– Application in leather production: The innovative tannins were subjected to extensive application testing in both laboratory and industrial environments. Conceria Incas carried out full-scale production runs of leather intended for footwear and leather goods, successfully demonstrating the practical applicability and enhanced performance of the new tanning agents. Leathers treated with the LIFE I’M TAN extracts exhibited excellent versatility in colour development, including the ability to achieve light and pastel shades, representing a significant improvement in comparison with conventional tannins. In addition, preliminary results suggest strong potential for these tannins in the formulation of waterproof leathers, an area identified for further exploration and development.

– Environmental footprint of the new tanning process: The benchmark comparison was extended to include also a comprehensive analysis of environmental impact indicators. The Aquarno Consortium, in collaboration with Conceria Incas and CRCF, conducted in depth evaluations of key chemical and physical parameters, focusing on optimising wastewater treatment processes and delivering measurable environmental improvements:

o   Water consumption during the tanning phases was reduced by 5% to 25%, depending on the type of leather article produced. This optimisation was due to the high efficiency and adaptability of the newly developed modified tannins, which support the creation of leather products that meet or exceed industry performance benchmarks.
o   Tanning bath analyses showed a reduction of up to 40% in organic matter content, measured as Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), when compared to conventional reference processes.
o   Also potentially hazardous substances, including phenol, bisphenols and formaldehyde, were reduced by more than 80%, a direct result of significantly lowering the use of synthetic tanning agents in the process.
o   Biodegradability testing of treated wastewater is currently underway to determine whether the reduced pollutant load is also accompanied by enhanced biodegradability. These evaluations will be finalised upon project completion.

All environmental impact data collected contributes directly to the project’s Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) studies, ensuring a holistic understanding of both the sustainability and economic viability of the new tanning process.

– Upcycling of LIFE I’M TAN by-products: An additional key benefit of the new natural tannins is the significant reduction in production waste, both from the chemical processing and leather tanning phases. The advanced purification processes developed for the modified tannins enabled the recovery and upcycling of certain by-products into high-value ingredients for use in other sectors, including animal nutrition and the manufacture of environmentally friendly resins. In parallel, leather scraps and trimmings generated during manufacturing can be recycled through a hydrolysis process into fertilisers suitable for organic agriculture. This approach contributes to closing the loop on material reuse and supports a fully circular model for leather valorisation.

SUSTAINABILITY AND FUTURE OUTLOOK

The results achieved thus far, while pending broader validation at full industrial scale, clearly demonstrate that the new modified natural tannins offer a promising pathway toward a next-generation tanning technology that is innovative, environmentally sustainable and commercially viable.

From an economic standpoint, vegetable tanning and retanning processes based on these advanced tannins enable a more efficient use of raw materials by reducing the need for conventional tanning agents. At the same time, they support the production of high performance, soft leathers available in a broad spectrum of colours, adopting simplified bio-based formulations.

As the LIFE I’M TAN project concludes, attention now turns to scaling and disseminating these innovations across the leather tanning sector. The project provides a replicable, industrially relevant model for sustainable tanning practices, with strong potential for adoption across Italy and the wider European market. By embracing these modified natural tannins, the leather industry can significantly improve its environmental footprint, elevate product quality and align more closely with emerging regulatory frameworks. Importantly, these tannins exhibit strong transferability beyond leather processing, with potential applications in fields such as animal nutrition and the development of sustainable resins and polymers.

LIFE I’M TAN has demonstrated that collaborative innovation and a clear sustainability focus can modernise traditional industries, delivering meaningful environmental, economic and social impact across the value chain.

With global trade wars and tariff uncertainty dominating the fi rst half of this year, the footwear industry’s need for agility and innovation has never been more urgent. No company is better suited to lead by example than OrthoLite.

Market Wisdom Gained from Experience
OrthoLite created the comfort and performance insole category nearly 30 years ago, and has led in sales, volume, reputation, and customer service ever since. Today, OrthoLite partners with over 550 brands to produce more than 600 million pairs of insoles each year.
This success-fueled longevity is the opposite of a company resting on its laurels. Instead, it is a testament to OrthoLite’s agility through continuous growth, evolution and innovation. Time has only sharpened the brand’s commitment to developing market-relevant insole solutions, and to building a vertically-integrated global infrastructure that’s responsive to global trends.
OrthoLite operates factories in the most important footwear manufacturing hubs across the globe, including: Vietnam, China, India and Indonesia. In 2021, the company opened OrthoLite Europe in Almansa, Spain, enabling delivery times of 2-4 days to nearly any location in Europe.

A Culture Innovation Through Clarity of Vision
Inside this innovative T2 supplier, the entire culture is focused on continual improvement: in product development, in partnership, in sustainability measures, and in operational processes.
Even in turbulent times for global economies, OrthoLite is never complacent about creating a culture of innovation. Part one is clarity of vision. Part two is empowering every employee to explore, discover and create new and better pathways to reaching that shared vision.
Industry visionary, Juan Luis Albertos, resides as the general manager and sales manager of OrthoLite Europe where he and his team cultivate this same culture in Almansa. He has built a structure of trust and accountability, with the clarity of vision to improve the supply chain for our partners.

It’s under these ethos that the OrthoLite Europe team combines their expertise of the highest caliber with a deep knowledge in shoemaking to create an amazing resource for the world’s most prestigious footwear brands.
Due to increased demand, OrthoLite Europe quadrupled its footprint and capacity in 2024. The factory has become a vital asset for brands requiring EU-based supply chain partners while at the same time, offering the high standards of quality, service, and regulatory transparency essential to their operations.

Agility Built in by Design

If anything, a more challenging global landscape is a positive jolt to OrthoLite’s innovative spirit because it sets another parameter for delivering products that serve the company’s vision for footwear and for the realities of the moment. Why does that matter to footwear brands and T1 factories? OrthoLite’s global production infrastructure is responsive to changing market conditions and needs. It provides the ability to navigate around supply chain disruptions and geopolitical shifts with minimal disruption to its brand partners. Brands can expect clear communication and benefi t from OrthoLite’s 99% on-time delivery rate.
Explore OrthoLite Europe at www.ortholite.com.

Among the international reference operators in the design and production of high-tech adhesives and fabrics for footwear and leather goods, automotive and packaging, Industrie Chimiche Forestali has been strongly committed to sustainability values and ESG principles for over a century. The Group has, in fact, obtained the most important certifications of the chemical and corporate sector, and since 1997 it has joined the Responsible Care program, which promotes the Sustainable Development of the Chemical Industry at international level according to values and behaviors oriented to health, safety and the environment.

“In this direction, we have been working for years on the substitution of dangerous substances present in the formulation of our products and on the development of eco-friendly adhesives with low content of VOC (volatile organic compounds, ndr), Challenging time-tested working methods and technologies”.

This commitment is reflected in the continuous expansion of the range of products certified according to GRS (Global Recycle Standard), FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), BCI (Better Cotton Initiative), GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) and OK biobased standards.

In addition, in order to assess the environmental impacts generated by its products “in 2019 ICF carried out an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) study on the production of four categories of fabrics, extruded and impregnated, in the leather and footwear sector” – says Marcello Taglietti.

In collaboration with the CNR and on the basis of its own LCA analysis, in 2022 ICF introduced within the Product Category Rule (PCR) “Fabrics” specific standards for the implementation of environmental studies on extruded and impregnated textiles, today active and used as a reference in the fashion sector. Thanks to this important contribution “in 2023 we obtained the EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) certification for our extruded and impregnated fabrics, establishing a world record within the footwear sector. This has enabled us to gain not only a competitive advantage, but also ecodesign support for the final product.’

More recently, ICF has achieved the important milestone of ISCC PLUS (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification), a globally recognised standard for the sustainability of bio-based, recycled and circular materials. The company has also adopted the Mass Balance model, an innovative approach that allows the gradual integration of sustainable materials into adhesive production processes, ensuring transparency and traceability throughout the entire supply chain, Reducing environmental impact without compromising product quality and performance.

In addition to these important certifications, it is worth mentioning that in 2023 ICF together with ACBC, BCorp and Circular Science Company A document that represents the company’s ethical commitment and mission to pursue responsible business practices and contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This coexists with the Sustainability Report, now in its sixth edition and drawn up on a voluntary basis according to the GRI Standards.

“In this period we are working intensively to further develop the range of water-based and solvent-free adhesives, which in recent years have been increasingly appreciated, especially by luxury brands, compared to more traditional solvent-based adhesives.”, adds Marcello Taglietti.