White Leather Tawing

Glacé-tawed kid leather
Erlangen, around 1900

White leather tawing produced the fine and very supple, yet shiny leather used in the manufacture of glacé gloves, and didn't become established in Germany until the arrival of the Huguenot religious refugees. Erlangen tawers, who processed imported lamb and kid hides using a mineral-based tanning method, had an excellent reputation in the 18th century. They not only met the demand of local glovemaking workshops, whom they were in part associated with, but mainly produced for the export trade. Famous 'Erlangen Leather' was traded as far afield as Denmark.

The craft was exempt from the guild system and remained exclusively in French hands until 1811. During the course of the 19th century, white leather tawing in Erlangen lost its superregional status; it did not experience its ultimate demise, however, until after the Second World War.