Described as the ships of the desert, camels have been a Bedouin’s best friend since time immemorial. They’ve provided man with food, transportation, clothing, shelter, protection and have become a symbol of reliability and resilience in the harsh Arabian climate. It’s only logical then to honour this animal’s hide with a fitting end. In that vein, Sheikh Zayed was on to something when he erected the Al Khaznah tannery almost eight years ago. He wanted a tannery that would transform local camel hides into finished leather. His vision only came into fruition two years ago, however, when the tannery began operating.
And why is all this history about camel leather interesting? Well, consider a large handbag, like one of those old doctors bags, made of deep blue camel leather that feels and looks absolutely delicious and has a vintage finish that’ll make heads turn. (We promise we’ll tell you how to get it in a bit.) And now that we have the attention of all the ladies and stylish men, consider also that said bag is biodegradable and produced with the most environmentally friendly and sustainable methods known to man. Now we’ve got all you lovely tree-huggers on board too.
For all these reasons and more, we paid a visit to the Al Khaznah Tannery, where general manager Jean-Marie Gigante showed us how a tannery works and gave us the low down on their unique leather and tanning process. With a background in chemical engineering, specializing in leather science, this French gentleman has worked in the leather industry for over 30 years across Europe, Africa and Asia. Prior to his move to Abu Dhabi, he was MD for the Hermes tannery in France. He’s also the man who revived Sheikh Zayed’s vision and took it to a new level, where Al Khaznah is now on its way to supplying camel leather for some of Paris’s famous fashion houses.
What was the motivation for producing biodegradable and eco-friendly leather?
The tanning industry has always been seen as a polluting one. Only until 15 years ago water from tanneries in the UK was being disposed of without treatment right into the ocean. When I found out, I thought it was really a shame. I was just back from Kenya after I’d set up the recycling of water at a tannery there, and I discovered this in Europe, in the UK! Throughout my career I’ve always tried to improve on our environmental performance either in the tanneries I’ve run or as a consultant in the leather industry. What we have achieved here in Al Khaznah is somehow the conclusion of all those years of my work trying to minimize our impact on the environment.
Can you tell us about tanning?
Tanning involves stabalising the protein structure which would otherwise go to rot. There are many ways of tanning leather. The traditional way of tanning is with the use of wood barks and extracts, what we call vegetable tanning. Then we moved into chrome tanning where the leather is treated with chromium salts. This is a technique that 90 percent of the leather industry uses because it gives the best performance for leather. But when an object with chrome tanned leather (which is basically every possible object you find on the market today) is disposed of, it will still contain chromium salts. And if it is incinerated (as it tends to be) the chromium salt turns into a chromium compound which is extremely toxic and carcinogenci.
So you don’t use chromium in your tanning process?
We do not. We have developed a new way of preserving the skins which avoids using chromium salts and still allows us to get the same performance and results as the chrome tanned leathers. A good number of tanneries have been working on this for years because, until now, nothing was really up to the mark of the chromium tanned leathers.
And how do you do it?
We use only natural products and a recipe that I have personally developed over the past decade, which we keep a secret. The leather technology can be compared sometimes to cooking: it involves long recipes and the transformation process is a lengthy one. At Al Khanznah we have also been very careful not to use any ingredient that is not sustainable. The result is leather that is able to biodegrade within six months, if it is put into a composting situation. That’s the real break-thorough. And to my knowledge we are the only ones who have developed such a biodegradable leather that is at the same time able to meet the highest standard of performance, so that it can even be used in aircrafts.
Does the treatment process normally cause pollution?
It would in a standard operation. We are very careful to pick only chemicals that are hazard free for the end result as well as for the production. This comes at a cost, but it’s one of our philosophies. Also, all our waste is recyclable and recycled. One thing is that a tannery uses a lot of water. We’ve got a water recycle system where the water is used, treated, polished and then re-injected back into the process. We do use water, it’s not zero impact, but for this industry we’ve really demonstrated responsibility and tried to minimize our environmental impact.
Al Khaznah currently provide leather to manufacturers and produce some leather goods (such as the aforementioned bag of desire, which Jean-Marie refers to as ‘decadent’). They mostly work as wholesalers, supplying in bulk to companies. They do, however, also produce smaller quantities on demand, if you are so inclined to invest in unique handbags with a large group of friends. Alternatively, below are just some of the companies that use Al Khaznah leather in their products.
• Sougha
• Feathers
• Local by Design
• Mira Design
• Al Mandoos
• Poltrona Fran (only for their regional collection)
The tannery is open Sunday to Thursday from 8.30am – 3.30pm. For more info email Sales@alkhaznahtannery.ae. Al Khaznah Tannery (02 566 2000).
