Lefa - a material against waste

Some materials inherently have a high resource-saving and thus sustainable component. Leather fiber, so-called Lefa, is such a substance. High-quality "bonded leather" consists of over 90% renewable raw materials. More than half of it is recycled leather residues, otherwise more likely to end up in landfills: offcuts from the leather processing industry and chrome shavings, which are produced in large quantities when freshly tanned leather hides are folded in tanneries. But Lefa is not only convincing from a waste-economy point of view. The material also scores points in everyday use: in terms of feel and smell, it is quite comparable to real leather.

The manufacturing process is very similar to that of paper - at the end of a complex sequence over several stages, the material is ready for further processing in the form of large rolls or sheets. For this purpose, the leather scraps are first finely shredded by machine and then mixed with vegetable tanning agents, natural rubber, natural fats and water. In a second tanning process within this mixture, the leather fibers felt together. The result is a regular material that can be smoothed, sanded and then further processed. Depending on the mixing ratio and material thickness, it has more or less elasticity and is therefore versatile. Today, many different products are made from lefa, from wall cladding to flooring or shoe soles. Even for the interior fittings of motor vehicles, experiments are already being carried out with specially hardened leather fiber materials. Since the material can also be coated and embossed in principle, book spines, belts and other accessories have long been produced from the "recycled leather" in order to be able to offer cost-effective variants on genuine leather products.