Fresh 'wet blue' leather arrives at the unloading docks. Most of the process of 'wet blue' leather takes place in various facilities in the Punjab, though some smaller local tanneries do produce the material in Karachi. 'Wet blue' is the name given to the raw, unprocessed but prepared animal skins where chromium sulfate and other chromium salts are used. It is more supple and pliable than vegetable-tanned leather and does not discolor or lose shape as drastically in water as vegetable-tanned. It is also known as wet-blue for its color derived from the chromium. More exotic colors are possible when using chrome tanning. The chrome tanning method usually only takes a day to finish, and the ease and agility of this method make it a popular choice. It is reported that chrome-tanned leather adds up to 80% of the global leather supply.
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