Nowadays, the fashion industry is looking for more sustainable solutions due to the increasing environmental awareness. In particular, it aims to introduce sustainable as well as cost-effective processes. The skin of salmon is a byproduct of the marinculture industry that is often unused or used as feed for aquaculture, causing environmental problems associated with this procedure. Transforming the unused fish skin into leather, could enable it to become an industry-shifting material, in particular in fashion. This process is done in small scale industries that are looking for technologies to improve their properties, in particular water resistance.

In this work, we will show a bio based coating that does not use fluorine chemistry to improve the water resistance of the tanned salmon leather.

As demonstrated by evaluating the gel fraction, the coating was strongly linked to the leather. The measurement of the dynamic contact angle revealed excellent water resistance of the coated leather, without changing its breathability and flexibility. Therefore, this work presented a sustainable and waterproof coating for leather, avoiding the usage of petroleum-based materials, and respecting the circular economy concept.