The Dutch leather industry reached its peak in 1954. Prior to that, the world’s leather was tanned in the West, and Dutch tanneries bought hides from South America, Africa, Australia and Java. As a preservation method, these hides were cured in salt.
From the early 1960’s, the number of tanneries in the Netherlands gradually fell from about 100 to the two companies that still exist and that work on raw hides, As of 2000, the hides were chilled rather than salted. This is better both for the environment and for the quality of the hide and therefore the leather,
Apart from the two companies mentioned above, there are six other specialized leather manufacturers that work with semi-finished products.
