Before preparation, the hide of calves and sheep are about 1 cm; thick. Before moving on to the tanning stage, the hide is cut across into two pieces: the outside layer which will become the so called "FULL FLOWER" and the inside layer called "the crust".
The full flower is the highest quality hide which keeps the characteristic surface, the grain and the softness of the quality leather.
The crust, on the other hand, is used for more economical preparations.

At this point, with the treatment of the hide, the softness of the leather is excentuated and takes on the characteristics we are used to: colour, luminosity, and transparency of the deep grain.

The treatment od the hide, originally to preserve the leather, plays a fundamental role because of the aesthetic appearance it can produce: the colour tone or the surface grain of the leather.
The difference in the grain does not indicate a difference in quality: it is just a personal taste that can be obtained with different tanning procedures.

Amongst the differnt types of tanning, Gigliodoro prefers the vegetal or natural in ditch methods.
With vegetal tanning the result is a high quality hide, slightly more rigid than when using traditional tanning.
The ditch taning goes back to the last century and is a slow, natural system, without technical force. The particular smell that comes from tanned leather with this method is because of the retting of the vegetal tannings released in the tanning tub, whilst the softness is from the use of a careful mix of vegetable and animal fats.
The hides used to produce the products shown in these pages ("Old Tuscany", "Old Maremma", "Buttero") are all treated by this method.
The leather described as "Nabuc" is a full flower calfskin, brushed to finish, whilst the "Tortora suede" is a skeepskin, i.e ovine rather than bovine.

Leather, like wood, is one of the few raw materials that nature will never exhaust: its value as a production and covering materials is therefore double: aesthetic and ecological.
We must also not fotget its emotional value; those who love it, appreciate it; it is wonderful.

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Gigliodoro leather goods are distributed by: authorized dealer