Say NO to Waste

Eliminate waste in all areas of the supply chain

LEATHER HAS TREMENDOUS VALUE WHEN UTILIZED CORRECTLY

Asiatan is a tannery committed to changing the narrative behind leather. It’s not a pretty topic but leather is a co-product of the meat industry and no matter how you feel about that, animal skins are available and if we don’t use them, they’re going into landfill.

Or

We can use them to make valuable, long lasting and functional materials. In that way, leather is the ultimate up-cycle material, so long as we do the right thing. Leather products last longer, have higher value and just work better than any other oil-based, synthetic material. If you are interested in our non-leather materials, we have them too.

Foundation

Asiatan/TecTuff was founded with three important principles.

The first principle was to add value to materials. Competing only with price was not value. Material interest, performance, variety of raw material, servicing customers was the basis of adding value.

The second principle was that no business has the right to pollute – all businesses have a responsibility to the environment. Reduction of waste, energy, water, chemistry and carbon footprint, needs to be the number one priority of our companies.

The third principle was that the business of business should be to improve society. How we act and what we do should always be measured by the highest standards. We have a responsibility of best practice to our employees, our community and the world we engage with.

Asiatan Kind Leather

Kind Leather Principles:

Asiatan has spent years optimizing and innovating ways to minimize waste. The culmination of that effort is the Asiatan Kind Leather program. We have looked at ways throughout our supply chain and processes to minimize everything from trim, water, chemistry and labor. The result is Kind Leather!

How do we achieve this?

We examined the key areas of waste in our suppliers, our own and the factories to find ways to reduce every aspect of what waste is. The result is that we optimized the raw material that we receive, we minimized the amount of chemistry we use and we now provide the world's most cuttable material to our factory partners.

The Benefits:

By trimming in the raw hide and lime we can divert waste that would have gone to landfill to a valueable protein supply chain for fertilizer, food products, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
No waste is created or transported
Raw Material shipped to the tannery needs no trimming or splitting
Through maximized chemistry and water we reduce hazardous waste, transportation emissions and pollution.

sustainability

REDUCE, REDUCE, REDUCE!

Sustainable processes need to look at all aspects of the supply chain. You can’t just focus on one aspect and feel like the job is done. At Asiatan, we are assessing all inputs throughout the entire re-tanning and finishing process to measure the water, energy and chemical consumption and solid waste generation per square meter of finished leather.

The closer we get to Zero, the better

Sustainable Philiosphy

Eliminate waste before it becomes waste
Use as little water, energy and chemicals as possible while maintaining the highest leather quality
Maximize the usability of the material at the shoe factory
Minimize the handling time shoe factories need for the material
Make compelling and long-lasting products for the consumer
Continuous improvement
Measure everything

Environment

Doing our part to make the world a better place

The Government sets standards, the industry sets standards and when they are not good enough NGO’s set standards. With the government there is corruption, with the industry the bar is too low, and with NGO’s there is a verification problem because they lack power. This improvement is not internal, but external. We believe in constant improvement.

To improve you need to measure. The best measurement tool we have found is Life Cycle Assessment. LCA provides the best and most thorough means to drive improvement.

To improve you need to measure

Society

What we do to give back

Wherever we make money we give money back

Asiatan/TecTuff are committed to giving back to society. Wherever we make money we give money back. Whoever makes the money gives the money back. Our office people, our technicians, our factory people, our buying people, and our selling people all are involved in charitable giving. We make giving back to society personal and meaningful.

China Project

We believe in supporting the local communities where we work. To do this we give back to the community where our factory is located in Jiangmen. Our local managers and employees work with the government of Jiangmen to identify the poorest in the community and we support them with food, cooking oil and financial help.

Find out more...

Responsible leather for a sustainable future

Asiatan Settings