All PANGO & LINN. products are made from full grain vegetable tanned cow leather. The leather is sourced in South Africa and tanned by the only EU-certified tannery in the country.
Vegetable tanning leather, is done by using tree bark, vegetable tannins and other biodegradable components. Less than 10% of the world’s leather, is tanned in this way. The method itself is hundreds of years old and takes about six weeks to complete. It is by far the most organic, environmental friendly way of leather tanning. Vegetable tanned leather, is a firm type of leather that still breaks in easily, softens and ages beautifully over the years. The leather gets rich. It ages with patina – the weathered and lived look that comes with time. It’s old school leather, the kind that was used to make those characteristic suitcases your grandparents used to travel with.
Why Vegetable tanned leather?
Most of the leather in the world is ‘chrome tanned’. It’s thin, soft and has fancy finishes. It’s quick to produce and cheap to use, but also puts a lot of pressure on the environment as the main tanning agent is chromium. A harsh chemical that does nature a lot of damage, especially because tanneries hardly every dispose of it correctly.
We cannot be an eco-brand and make use of leather that harms the natural world at the same time. Because of this, we have made the conscious decision to never make use of chrome tanned leather. Even if that means that our costs are higher and sourcing leather takes longer. You can rest assured that every product that leaves our studio, was made out of responsibly and eco-friendly vegetable tanned leather.
Why not go vegan?
We’ve thought about this, but came to the conclusion that using eco-friendly tanned bovine leather, is ultimately better for mother earth. The main reason for this, is that vegan ‘leather’ has PVC and PU as it’s main components. Both of these materials are plastics and very toxic while being turned into ‘leather’. As it’s made from plastic, vegan ‘leather’ is not biodegradable at all. Our vegetable tanned bovine leather however, most definitely is.
On top of that, vegan 'leather' is not hardy. It is not made to stand the test of time. It does not age with beauty, but breaks and gets thrown away creating more harmful waste which is exactly what we don’t want.
For these reasons, we decided to stick with our vision and the belief in vegetable tanned bovine leather. For it will last. And even that alone, makes a big difference when it comes to caring for our planet.
Buy better, not cheaper. Pass on, instead of throw away.
