Curtidos Sofán

A traditional tannery since 1920

Curtidos Sofán is a leather tannery in Galicia. It describes itself as the only Spanish factory still practicing artisan vegetable tanning through the method known as English tanning. The fourth generation of the family continues a trade established in 1920.

Production method

In the English method, hides hang in vats of tannin water from an oscillating support that moves them slowly. This gentle process produces flat leather with a firm body and smooth grain. Each hide is then oiled by hand, creating leather suited to shaping and embossed work.

The tannin is natural. Early production used oak bark from the surrounding area; when supply declined in 1957, the tannery moved to concentrated tannins derived principally from quebracho from Argentina and Paraguay, mimosa from Brazil and South Africa, and chestnut from France and Italy.

Products

• Vegetable-tanned cowhide for saddlery
• Lighter cow and calf leather for saddlery, leather goods and craft work
• Oiled horsehide and lighter horse leather
• Goatskin parchment

Environmental practices

The factory says it uses natural oils and fats, works with hides recovered from the meat industry and operates its own treatment plant under a discharge permit from Augas de Galicia. Waste is transferred to authorized treatment companies.

Contact and hours

Phone: 690 133 464. Email: curtidossofan@gmail.com. Hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. and 2–7 p.m.

Time is a defining input in the product: slow vat movement and hand oiling preserve a method whose value lies as much in process and handling as in the finished hide.