Materials

The quality of Matteograssi leather results from a careful selection of materials and a rigorous production process. 

It is produced from the hides of livestock raised only on European farms that provide the proper conditions for maintaining the skin perfectly intact. Processing begins in the tannery, where the salted hides arrive from the farm. 

Before it is cleaned, each hide is cut into the various sections - flank, shoulder and back - that will be used for different products. Next come the cleaning procedures, which were once called "riviera operations" because they used to be performed along the banks of rivers. Today, the fur and the fatty components are removed by soaking the skins in large drums or tubs containing water, lime and sodium sulfide. In the cleaning bath, the volume of the hides increases. 

The extra thickness allows them to be "split" by a cutting operation that results in two layers with different characteristics: a valuable, extremely strong upper layer called the "grain"; and the bottom layer, which does not have surface marks and is known as the "split". At this point, the hide is tanned with a treatment that greatly increases its useful life and provides it with specific qualities. 

The ingredients of the tanning bath (acids, salts, fats and oils) differ depending on whether soft leather or coach hide is to be produced. For a few days, the hides spin in drums full of water and tanning ingredients added in secret proportions. After tanning, processing continues with drying or "placing in the wind". The hide then returns (for the third time) to the drums ,this time for dyeing. Here, it is coloured with a solution of water and pure aniline that creates a clear coloration looking like watercolour. Next, the colour is made more uniform with manual "finishing", and the hide is dried, stretched, and subjected to additional dry drumming to make it softer and bulkier. 

At this point, each Matteograssi hide is ready to be marked according to its properties. Matteograssi coach hide and soft leather are some of the highest quality materials available on the market, which is made possible by selecting the finest technologies, materials and craftsmen, and by employing costly, demanding processes that meet the consumer's expectations, in the tradition of fine leather craftsmanship.