Almost 25 billion pairs of shoes are produced every year worldwide, about 20 billion of which are sneakers (source: World Footwear). 95% of them end up in landfills within a year, and barely 5% are recycled. It is all too evident that this consumerist approach cannot be sustainable in any way. Ecotan is the innovative Silvateam project that finally changes such approach: thanks to the great experience gained over the years with bio-circular leathers, Ecotan Shoes is born, a sustainable design philosophy able to rewrite the whole life cycle concept of footwear. Antonio Battaglia, Leather Division Director of the Italian-based company, told us about this new type of tanning and Ecotan Shoes sneaker, explaining the benefits for the environment and for our health.

Let’s start from the beginning. Why does leather continue to be falsely demonised?

“Over the years, leather has gone from being par excellence the most natural and beautiful material in the world to be considered less sustainable than plastic. The causes are various, but the hostility of vegans, who put the problem on an ethical rather than a sustainability level, does not help to improve the situation. Animal meat has always played a central role in the history and development of human societies. Today, 80% of the world’s population eats beef and 98% eats meat in general. I believe that this battle must be fought together, both by the food and tanning industries. I am also convinced that meat must be produced respecting animal rights, in an ethical and civil way, starting from breeding. Among other things, in recent decades, Silvateam has developed tannin-based formulations used successfully in animal nutrition. According to several studies carried out by prestigious universities and research centres, tannin is a natural antibacterial that is nowadays used to feed animals as a natural alternative to antibiotics, growth promoting drugs that have been adopted for over 50 years. Supplementing livestock diets with tannins permits to improve animal health and well-being, while counteracting the antibiotic resistance that threatens human health globally. We have adopted this philosophy also in the world of tanning, developing a cutting-edge and sustainable tanning technology.