Utmost dedication to sustainability, constant research, personalized customer services and a team of international professionals ready to satisfy the most demanding requests: these are the pillars on which the company, headquartered in Izmir (Turkey), lies its foundations. Since 1992, the company develops quality, sustainable products, in line with the market requirements, to be used not only in the tanning field, but also that of textiles and construction. “We need to look ahead in a positive and proactive way” these the words of Mr. Cem Kaleli, founder of the company and father of the current board member Can, at the latest edition of Lineapelle. “Many, in these three years of pandemic, have mourned themselves and have not reacted, being carried away by events; at United Chemicals this has not happened, on the contrary, we have drawn strength from this situation by adapting and devising new solutions to succeed, smiling at every circumstance. We are happy to finally be back at the fair, to shake hands with our collaborators and customers and to be able to offer them a good coffee.” Among other projects, mostly focusing on recyclable and sustainable products, United Chemicals has achieved excellent results with PROWHITE, a metal-free product that replaces the usual chemicals. “Sustainability is an essential topic today, especially for us chemists, who operate upstream of the supply chain. The market is increasingly pushing towards solutions that are compatible with nature, circular and recyclable, so we have invested heavily in R&D activities focusing on this. PROWHITE tanned leathers – continues Mr. Kaleli – are almost indistinguishable from chrome tanned leathers. We are now supplementing the PROWHITE tanning by metal-free dyestuff range and metal-free pigment range and we decided to stop the use of metal in wet-end and finishing systems by 2025”. Among the future projects, stands out the use of natural polymers for tanning that will provide a greener alternative to synthetic tanning agents. As a matter of fact, United Chemicals also developed a new chemical for dye fixation that uses 50% less water compared to conventional dyeing operations as well as an organic fatliquor with 0% free fatty acid: “We took a giant step on lowering COD and BOD values further in our chemicals. According to this mission, – concludes Mr. Cem Kaleli – we have been a member of MRSL ZDHC for several years now, and we are planning to take a more active role in Leather Working Group/LWG.”

UNITED CHEMICALS – www.unitedchemicals-co.com