ITALIAN LEATHER TECHNOLOGY
Among the proposals presented for the occasion by FGL International, two important innovations that have already been patented stand out. The first concerns a new fatliquor powder (called I25), which offers important advantages during the drum process. "We have developed a new polymer that enables a faster process that provides significant savings in time, electricity and water. In addition to being extremely practical, this fatliquor allows for a variety of interesting items, and more are being developed," Paolo Dalmasso explains.
The second novelty concerns the tanning process called REVOILS, developed in the FGL laboratories, which makes it possible to treat various types of leather (even of considerable size) with products of exclusively natural origin and free of the "undesirable" substances list- ed in the specifications of the various users: there are no metals, no bisphenols and much less formaldehyde. "Compared to traditional oil tanning, the characteristics of the finished articles with REVOILS are significantly improved: the leathers, at the end of processing, have a light color, better dyeability, a round touch and a very uniform ap- pearance; in addition, the olfactory impact is barely perceptible. In addition, this process does not require any retanning step, reducing processing time" Dalmasso further tells.
Important developments also concern Finikem on the leather finishing side. The company presented a new articulation made with Finibio, the innovative line of biobased products, i.e., made with natural and renewable raw materials from waste biomasses of vegetable and animal origin (thus excluding the use of synthetic raw materials derived from petroleum), which enables excellent results in the finishing of all types of leathers.
