The leather chemical company Donyon, of Shanghai, China, have teamed up with the medical research company Biosk, specialists in skin structure and functions, to develop new leathermaking products. The idea is to apply medical principles to leather manufacturing processes.
At APLF in April, Donyon announced a new product for liming, DO-PRO, which is claimed to deliver high yield without loose grain. Area yield of finished leather is increased by more than 4% while the rate of loose grain is reduced by more than 5%. Additionally, the softness and fullness of leather is increased by more than 30% and pollution is decreased by more than 20%. What DO-PRO claims to do is open up the tight inner collagen fibre bundles more effectively than conventional penetrating agents, thereby giving a more uniform structure. This enables the tanning and retanning agents to crosslink well, improving performance such as yield and softness and exhaustion of chemicals.