Your Pololo natural leather shoes: why Nappa leather is best
Why leather?
Leather, one of the oldest man made materials, is tanned animal skin: a natural product which in its original form is breathable, permeable, protects against changing temperatures, wet and possible foot injuries, while at the same time being kind to the skin.
Pololo uses only the best European leather to make their fabulous baby soft shoes. The Ecopell leather (eco: ecological, pell: derived from “pelle”, the Italian word for “skin”) is produced in Germany, where the focus is on using as little resources as possible and reducing waste water. No preserving agents are used at any time during the production of Ecopell leather to make the Pololo soft shoes suitable for babies with allergies.
How is today’s leather industry working?
To convert an animal skin into leather which meets the requirements of the shoe industry, the skins today are often tanned with harmful chrome salts and the surface is laminated with plastics. Chrome tanning takes only a few hours and is therefore the quickest and cheapest method of tanning.
It is performed using trivalent chromium salt that in high concentration can cause allergic reactions. Under particular circumstances, trivalent chromium salt can transform into hexavalent chromium salt, which is 1000 times as toxic as trivalent chromium salt. It is possible that sweat on the skin causes this transformation.
Moreover, the waste water resulting from chrome tanning (as well as other by-products) considerably pollutes our soil and water. The substances that remain in the leather and get “under our skin” are largely unknown. Furthermore, to conceal possible irregularities like, for instance, scars, growth marks or insect stings, the leather is treated with a synthetic material like polyurethane. This chemical treatment might produce a “perfect” look and might be machine washable but the leather can no longer breathe and it loses its natural character.
What is vegetable tanning?
The high-grade Ecopell leather used for your Pololo soft shoes is naturally tanned with various plants like Valonea oak, rhubarb and Tara fruit.
The Tara tanning agent is extracted from the fruit husks of the small Tara tree (Cesalpina spinosa) which grows in the wild in Peru. The Tara fruit is also cultivated by the native farmers as a protection against erosion. The trees are not damaged during the harvest of the Tara fruits. Selling the Tara husks are an important source of income for the rural population in Peru. The precious Tara fruits are also used by the population in Peru as a remedy against sore throat from centuries.
Vegetable tanning takes considerably more time than chrome tanning but it is less harmful to both people (especially babies) and the environment. Your Pololo soft shoes are free from chemical dyes, formaldehyde, heavy metals, chrome and other preserving agents.
The leather used for your Pololo shoes is allergy tested
80% of the vegetable tanning substances remain in the leather skin and the residual tanning substances are completely biodegradable and therefore do not affect the environment. Because your Pololo soft shoes are totally non-irritant to the skin, Pololo are the ideal soft shoes to wear barefoot, even for newborns and small babies. Tests did not show any irritation or allergic reaction of the human skin. Please contact us and we will send you the Pololo tests by email in PDF format.
The German Fresenius Institute carried out tests with 50 persons suffering from various skin rashes like neurodermatites, allergic eczema and other skin diseases. After prolonged skin contact (approximately 48 hours) with undyed natural leather used for the production of Pololo soft shoes, none of these highly sensitive test persons showed any negative reaction. The Ecopell leather which is used for the Pololo soft shoes is produced by a vegetable tanning process and made in special consideration of the protection of our environment and our babies’ health.
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