Leather vs. Virus: Italian Tanner Creates New Material Treatment
Italian tanning company develops antiviral treatment for leather
#interior
Gruppo Mastrotto, a large supplier of cowhide products for a variety of industries including automotive, has announced the development of a propriety technology that it said eliminates 99.9% of the viruses and bacteria that might be found on leather.
(Large? More than 2,400 employees; 18 factories; >435 million € turnover.)

Gruppo Mastrotto said it has developed a treatment for leather that provides antibacterial and antiviral properties. (Image: Gruppo Mastrotto)
In addition to which, it acts as a surface barrier that “prevents the replication of pathogens that may come into contact with the leather.”
Meaning that it maintains its capability after several uses, though the company didn’t say how long the surface barrier lasts.
Chiara Mastrotto, president of Gruppo Mastrotto, said, “This fundamental innovation, designed and developed entirely within the company, represents for us the culmination of significant efforts and investments made in the Research and Development field.”
Presumably the people who work in the company’s labs have been previously been working on colors and surface treatments more than on health-related concerns.
Post-COVID
Although antiviral leather has an immediate application due to COVID-19, it is worth noting that one of the considerations that interior designers have had over the past few years is designing interiors for shared vehicles that are not only easy to clean of dirt and debris, but that would have the antiviral and antibacterial properties that Gruppo Mastrotto said it has developed to treat leather.
This treatment will undoubtedly have applicability from this point going forward for both shared vehicles as well as those individually owned.
RELATED CONTENT
-
2017 Buick LaCrosse Premium AWD
The Buick design team deserves the strongest of accolades for their work at transforming the appearance of the brand from one of, well something akin to “the last ride” to one of contemporary stylishness befitting of a the cohort of automotive customers who didn’t cast their first presidential ballot in 1968 or earlier.
-
2019 Volvo XC40 T5 AWD Momentum and R-Design
Back in 2004, Volvo introduced a concept vehicle, called “Your Concept Vehicle,” in which case the pronoun essentially referred to women because as the company pointed out, the YCC was “the first car designed and developed almost exclusively by women.” Some would say that Volvo was ahead of its time—way ahead—with this idea.
-
Ford Expedition: Bigger, Better
If you’re going to introduce a new full-size SUV, you might as well do it in a place where there are more of them sold than anywhere else, says Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of the Americas.