Chrome tanning is a process in which hides are treated with chromium (III) salts. It is considered to be the most common form of tanning due to its fast process. In this method, a hide’s pH level needs to be increased before the tanning process begins in order to ensure that the chromium compounds bond to the leather on a molecular level, which also helps to increase the resistance to shrinkage when exposed to warm water. Chromium tanned hides are tinged with blue in their raw state and referred to as “wet-blue.”
