Chouara Tannery in Fez’s medina – dating back to around the 11th century – remains an iconic example of Morocco’s historic leather craft.
Cultural and Historical Context
Leather tanning is a deeply rooted craft in Morocco, with centuries of history in cities like Fez and Marrakech. In Fez, tanneries have operated since the early medieval period – local tradition even links the famous Chouara Tannery to the city’s 9th-century founding, and records confirm tanneries (such as Sidi Moussa) by the 1100s. As early as the 12th–13th centuries, Fez was a thriving leather production hub with dozens of tanneries; its high-quality leathers were exported as far as Baghdad, highlighting the craft’s importance to the economy. These same tanneries (Chouara, Sidi Moussa, and later Ain Azliten) have been expanded and maintained through the ages, preserving techniques largely unchanged since medieval times. In Marrakech, the craft took hold soon after the city’s founding in the Almoravid era. The Bab Debbagh quarter (“Gate of the Tanners”) has housed tanneries since the 12th-century Almoravid period, indicating that traditional tanning was integral to Marrakech’s medina life as well.
Morocco’s tanneries are not only production sites but living cultural heritage. They are typically located in or near old medinas and along waterways (for water supply), and their layout and methods have been passed down through generations. Many tanning families trace their trade back several generations. For example, in Marrakech, a small family-run tannery might have the same family working in it for decades, with knowledge imparted from father to son. This generational transmission helps preserve age-old techniques. Today, these historic tanneries serve a dual role: they continue to produce renowned Moroccan leather and also act as cultural attractions. Travelers in Fez and Marrakech often visit tannery terraces to witness the medieval scene of stone vats and dye pits—an “ancient open-air workshop” that feels like a step back in time. Despite the challenges of odor and hard labor, Morocco’s tanners take pride in their heritage, keeping alive a craft that has remained remarkably continuous from past to present.
Artisan Practices and Process Details
Traditional Moroccan leather tanning is a labor-intensive, all-natural process carried out entirely by hand, much as it was hundreds of years ago. The tanners work in open-air courtyards lined with stone vats, and the process from raw hide to finished leather involves several stages and unique local materials. Below is a step-by-step overview of how artisans transform animal hides (from cows, goats, sheep, or camel) into Morocco’s famed leather using traditional methods:
1. Soaking & Softening (Iferd)
Fresh hides are first soaked in a fermented concoction of pigeon droppings, animal urine, quicklime, salt, and water, known locally as iferd. This pigeon poo bath is rich in ammonia, which helps loosen hair and residual flesh from the hides. Hides ferment in these white vats for several days (around 3 days in summer, up to 6 in winter), after which they are wrung out and laid to dry briefly. The pungent iferd mixture is crucial as a natural dehairing agent – tanners poetically say that in this stage the hide “eats, drinks and sleeps” before being reborn as leather.
2. Hair Removal and Cleaning (Lime & Argan Ash)
Next, the partly treated hides are scraped to remove the loosened hair and excess flesh. They are then submerged in vats of calcium lime and argan-kernel ash (a recycling of waste from argan oil production) for about 15–30 days. The high pH lime solution cleans the hides and strips any remaining hair or fat. This step further softens the hide and is an example of how Moroccan tanners minimize waste by reusing by-products – even the ash from pressed argan nuts is utilized as an alkaline agent. Over these weeks, the hides are periodically checked until they are completely hairless, swollen, and ready for the next stage.
3. Second Soaking (Qasriya)
After a thorough wash, hides go into another pit called the qasriya, essentially a round vat of water mixed with more pigeon dung (ammonia). They soak for about 24 hours in this solution, which thins and relaxes the skin even further. Tanners describe this stage as imparting “naks,” a spirit into the leather, as the material becomes supple and alive. The repeated use of natural ammonia from pigeon droppings in both the iferd and qasriya highlights the completely organic approach – a method that avoids industrial chemicals by leveraging locally available substances (and explaining the powerful smell!). After the qasriya soak, the hides are once again scraped and rinsed, reaching a clean, blue-white state and a pliable texture.
4. Tanning and Dyeing (Vegetable Tannins & Natural Dyes)
Now, the actual tanning occurs to convert the hide into stable leather. Traditionally, this is done with vegetable tannins obtained from local plants (such as the bark of mimosa or acacia trees), which are rich in polyphenols. Artisans in Fez and Marrakech often also add agents like alum salts, flour, or oils to the hides and pound or knead them – this prepares the material to absorb dyes and helps preserve it. At this stage, hides may be treated with a mixture containing ground tree bark, plant leaves, or other tannin sources, and then placed into the renowned dye pits.
All dyes are natural, derived from plants, spices, and earth materials. The palette is both local and vivid: for example, red is produced from poppy flowers or paprika, yellow from saffron, turmeric, or soaked pomegranate peels, orange from henna, blue from indigo plant, and green from sources like mint. The tanners manually work the hides in these dye baths – often standing waist-deep in colored liquid – to ensure the pigment penetrates.
Each hide type (cow, goat, sheep, camel) and desired color dictates the specific natural ingredients used. For instance, the famed canary-yellow babouche slippers are traditionally dyed with pomegranate rinds, which impart a rich golden hue. No synthetic pigments are needed; Moroccan tanneries strictly use plant-based dyes, a practice that has changed little over the centuries. Once thoroughly soaked in dye, the leather is pulled out and hung or spread to dry under the hot Moroccan sun.
5. Finishing & Craftsmanship
The dried leather, now vibrantly colored, undergoes final softening and finishing. Tanners typically stretch and knead the leather repeatedly, sometimes by pulling it back-and-forth between ropes or by foot treading, to make it supple. This vigorous stretching (often done by younger, strong workers) “gives the skin life again,” according to tradition – it imbues flexibility and a smooth hand-feel.
At this point, the raw hides have fully transformed into durable leather. The finished leather is then delivered to artisans and workshops both locally and across Morocco. Skilled leatherworkers (often in the same medina souks) carry out hand-crafting techniques on this leather, cutting, hand-stitching, weaving, and embossing it into Morocco’s famous products.
The end results include high-quality bags, jackets, belts, wallets, poufs, and the iconic babouche slippers – all prized for their craftsmanship and the rich, earthy smell of the traditional tanning process. Every step of this supply chain, from tanning to finishing, is done using manual labor and inherited know-how, with no modern machinery involved.
Handmade vs. Industrial Leather
It’s worth noting how Moroccan handmade leather differs from mass-produced industrial leather. Traditional Moroccan tanning is a form of vegetable tanning – it relies on organic materials (plants, animal byproducts) and takes a great deal of time (often several weeks for a batch). This slow “slow fashion” approach yields leather with a distinctive character: initially stiffer but developing a beautiful patina and scent, and free of synthetic chemicals. In contrast, modern industrial tanning (used by most of the world’s leather factories) typically uses chromium salts and other chemicals to tan hides in mere days, sometimes in as short as 24 hours.
Chrome tanning produces leather that is uniformly soft and water-resistant from the start, and can be dyed in any bright color, which suits mass production. However, it replaces the artisan’s touch and natural ingredients with drums and toxic reagents (the tanned hides end up containing around 4–5% chromium). The contrast can be summarized as follows:
Because of these differences, vegetable-tanned Moroccan leather is often lauded for being eco-friendlier and artisanal, while chrome-tanned leather is cheaper and ubiquitous in “fast fashion.” In Morocco’s traditional tanneries, one can still witness the old method – indeed “walking into the tannery [feels] like walking into the long forgotten past,” as one sustainable fashion entrepreneur observed. The commitment to natural, manual processing is a defining trait of Moroccan leather craft, setting it apart from industrial leather production.
Sustainability and Environmental Impacts
The question of sustainability in leather tanning has two sides in Morocco: on one hand, the traditional vegetable tanning methods have eco-friendly advantages; on the other, the practical reality of tannery operations (traditional or not) poses environmental challenges if wastes are not managed. Here we examine both perspectives, as well as recent efforts to improve the industry’s environmental footprint.
Natural vs. Chrome: Eco-Benefits of Traditional Tanning
Traditional Moroccan tanning uses organic inputs like plant tannins, lime, and pigeon dung instead of the heavy chemicals used in modern tanning. This means it avoids toxic chemical waste: unlike chrome tanning, which generates hazardous chromium-laden effluent, vegetable tanning’s waste is largely biodegradable given the right conditions.
No poisonous heavy metals are added in the traditional pits, so the output (hair, sludge, used dye water) contains natural substances that pose less long-term toxicity. Additionally, many materials are by-products (e.g., pigeon droppings collected from city rooftops, or tannins extracted from tree bark), which makes clever use of local resources. Vegetable-tanned leather is often considered a more sustainable product as well, since it ages naturally and can be recycled or safely discarded at the end of life (whereas chrome-tanned leather is essentially non-biodegradable and can persist indefinitely as waste).
In short, the heritage process has inherent ecological merits: it is a form of circular economy using natural waste (like pigeon manure and plant matter) to create a valuable good, avoiding the toxic substances that plague modern tanning.
Pollution and Health Challenges
Despite being “natural,” traditional tanneries can still significantly pollute if operating without modern controls. Water usage is high – large volumes of water are used in soaking and washing skins. Historically, tannery quarters were placed near rivers for easy water access, and waste liquids often flowed back into the environment. In Fez’s old medina, for example, the tanneries have long dumped their spent baths (containing animal fats, hair, and yes, excrement) into the local waterways.
Since at least the late 19th century, many Moroccan tanneries also adopted chromium sulfate to speed up or improve tanning results. (Even though traditional recipes were vegetable-based, the pressures of industry led to chrome’s introduction – a trend worldwide in the 1800s.) By the 20th century, the iconic Fez tanneries were “loaded” with chromium in their vats, meaning the effluent from those “traditional” pits contained carcinogenic heavy metal in addition to organic waste.
The result was severe contamination of soil and the river downstream, and health complaints in the community. Tannery workers, too, face health risks: continuous contact with pigeon dung and lime can cause skin and respiratory issues, and exposure to chromium in old tanneries has been linked to increased illness (even if some workers insist they only use natural substances, studies have found chromium present). Indeed, tanneries have been considered noxious trades for centuries – traditionally, they were zoned at city outskirts due to the foul smells and waste. In Fez, the strong odors and waste runoff from Chouara and other tanneries earned them a reputation as a source of pollution over generations.
These environmental and health concerns came to a head in recent decades. By the 2000s, authorities and organizations recognized that the status quo was unsustainable for the environment. For example, in Fez, the Oued Bou Khrareb (Fez River) running past the tanneries had effectively become an open sewer. A major rehabilitation initiative led by Moroccan architect Aziza Chaouni aimed to clean up the Fez River and reduce tannery pollution.
At one point, planners considered relocating the historic tannery operations out of the old city entirely to contain the pollution. Ultimately, instead of closing Chouara, the government opted for restoration and pollution control measures on-site, part of a broader UNESCO-backed medina restoration around 2016. The tannery vats and surrounding infrastructure were renovated, and handling of waste was improved (for instance, solid waste is now collected, and some preliminary wastewater treatment is in place). Periodic dye-water dumping still occurs, but efforts are ongoing to treat tannery effluent before it reaches the river. The Fez River Rehabilitation Project has covered sections of the river with gardens and built sewage pipelines, mitigating some of the direct dumping.
Modernization & Eco-Friendly Initiatives
In tandem with preserving traditional methods, Morocco has also pursued more sustainable tanning solutions. Not far from Fez’s ancient pits, a new industrial tanning zone was established (in the Saiss region outside the city). As of the mid-2010s, around 55 modern tanneries operate there with high-tech filtering and treatment systems, vastly reducing pollution. These modern facilities carry out the same tanning processes but with regulated controls: they have water collection and recycling systems (to minimize water usage and reuse it), and they capture and recycle chromium from wastewater instead of dumping it.
In other words, they meet international environmental standards akin to those in developed countries, but still produce Moroccan leather. The trade-off is that these industrial tanneries lack the tourist appeal and historic ambience – they are essentially factories, shipping leather to artisans across Morocco rather than selling finished goods on-site. Still, their emergence shows a path toward cleaner leather production. By clustering tanneries together outside the city, all their wastewater can be piped to a central treatment facility, an approach experts praise as smart and necessary.
There are also initiatives to market Morocco’s traditional leather as a sustainable, natural product. A recently launched “natural leather” certification program, for example, aims to formally distinguish vegetable-tanned Moroccan leather (free from chromium) and promote it to eco-conscious consumers. Likewise, some tanneries and artisan workshops are seeking eco-friendly certifications (such as the Leather Working Group standards or other sustainable leather labels) to improve tannery conditions and assure buyers of environmentally responsible practices. The international demand for “vegetable tanned” leather has been growing, and Morocco’s artisans are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this trend given their heritage.
In summary, traditional Moroccan tanning holds intrinsic sustainable advantages – it’s a form of plant-based, low-energy craftsmanship – but it also historically created local pollution due to lack of waste management. The eco-benefits (no toxic chemicals, biodegradable wastes) can only be fully realized if coupled with modern waste treatment and thoughtful resource use. Encouragingly, Morocco is taking steps to address the environmental impacts: upgrading tannery infrastructure, moving some operations to controlled environments, and championing the natural, vegetable-tanned quality of its leather as part of a sustainable future.
Social and Economic Impact
The leather tanning craft is not just about making goods – it’s a pillar of community life and the local economy in Morocco’s historic cities. Socially and economically, the tanneries play a significant role in supporting artisans and preserving traditional livelihoods:
Employment and Community
Tanneries provide jobs to a considerable number of local residents, often concentrated in the medina (old city). In Fez’s three remaining traditional tanneries, roughly 200–250 men work directly in tasks like soaking, scraping, dyeing, etc. Across the wider Fez region, the leather artisan sector (tanning plus leather goods making) supports an estimated 500 artisans directly and up to 30,000 indirectly – the latter including all the craftspeople who cut, sew, and sell leather products made from tannery output.
This is a substantial source of employment in an old medina economy. Generations of the same families often work in tanneries; despite the hard conditions, the job is a source of pride and identity. One Fez tanner interviewed said, “I was born 70 or 80 meters from the tannery…I started coming here when I was four”, and by age 8 was already helping out – illustrating how deep the generational ties run. These artisans take up the trade of their fathers and grandfathers, ensuring continuity of tradition while earning a livelihood “for [their] family… thanks to Allah”.
Medina Economy and Trade
Leather goods have long been one of Morocco’s notable exports and domestic products. The term “Moroccan leather” (often known as “morocco” leather in historic Europe) became synonymous with high quality. Today, the leather products made by Medina artisans – from hand-tooled handbags and jackets to the ubiquitous colorful slippers – are sold in 5 local souks and also shipped worldwide. This crafts sector injects money into the Medina economies: it sustains workshops for dyers, tailors, shoemakers, and merchants.
For centuries, Moroccan leather was a valuable trade good (as noted, medieval Fez’s leather reached markets in far-off Baghdad). In modern times, cities like Fez and Marrakech continue to be known for leather shopping. Tourists contribute significantly – the tanneries themselves are a huge draw for visitors, which in turn drives sales at the cooperative stores and souks surrounding them.
Fez receives many of the million-plus tourists who visit Morocco annually, and the brightly colored leather goods in the medina are among the most sought-after souvenirs. This tourism income helps sustain artisan families. Even domestically, leather is a point of cultural pride and everyday utility (Moroccans themselves buy the affordable local babouches, bags, etc., fueling internal demand).
Artisan Cooperatives and Fair Trade
In recent years, there’s been a movement towards organizing artisans into cooperatives and embracing fair trade principles. Cooperatives allow craftspeople (sometimes including tanners, but more often those who create finished leather items) to pool resources, get better market access, and ensure fair pricing for their work. Several Moroccan artisan cooperatives are women-led, especially in leather goods like handbags and poufs, providing important income and empowerment to women in communities.
Fair trade organizations like the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) have certified cooperatives in Morocco – this guarantees fair wages, safe working conditions, and no exploitative labor practices. By supporting these cooperatives, consumers help artisans earn a sustainable livelihood and keep traditional skills alive. Benefits of fair trade in the Moroccan leather sector include: more stable incomes for artisan families, preservation of craft techniques (since artisans are incentivized to continue rather than abandon their trade), and often an emphasis on environmental consciousness (cooperatives might adopt eco-friendly practices like natural tanning to align with fair-trade ethos).
An example initiative is Hand-in-Hand Morocco, which fosters fair-trade partnerships with cooperatives to promote economic development through crafts. Additionally, the Moroccan government has introduced the "Morocco Handmade"label to certify and promote genuine artisanal products. Leather goods that carry such labels or fair-trade certifications signal to buyers that they were made under ethical conditions, thereby potentially commanding higher value and giving artisans a better share of profits.
Cultural Heritage and Social Status
Traditionally, tanning was considered a difficult, even low-caste occupation due to the filth and smell. Tanners historically were segregated in their own city quarter. However, in the Moroccan context, these artisans hold a respected place as keepers of heritage. Their skills are an intangible cultural heritage passed through apprenticeships.
The communal aspect of work in the tanneries (many male relatives working side by side in the vats) creates a tight-knit social fabric. They often form guilds or informal networks to support each other. The pride in producing Morocco’s famed leather can be heard in a tannery worker’s voice who said: “This job is good… only natural dyes are used, it is not toxic… people work until they are 80 sometimes”. While that statement downplays the real health risks, it shows the dignity they associate with their craft.
The government and NGOs have also recognized that protecting the tanners’ occupational health and rights is important – there are ongoing discussions about providing better gear (like proper gloves and boots, as traditionally many work with bare hands/feet) and health services to these workers as part of Medina rehabilitation projects.
Overall, the tanning industry’s social impact is a mix of sustaining livelihoods, anchoring communities, and facing the challenges of labor conditions. Economically, it supports thousands of families and contributes to Morocco’s export revenue (leather and leather goods are a notable segment of Moroccan crafts exports). Socially, it embodies a tradition where work and culture intersect – the sight of men dyeing hides in the open air, using ancient techniques, is both a tourist spectacle and a living example of how craft can define a community. Going forward, improving the tanners’ welfare (through fair trade, cooperatives, and modernization) while maintaining the cultural essence will be key to the sector’s sustainability in the human sense.
Conclusion
The story of Moroccan leather tanning is one of extraordinary resilience, where ancient craft meets modern challenges, and where cultural legacy continues to shape daily life and global markets. From the medieval vats of Chouara in Fez to the cooperative-led workshops in Marrakech, Morocco's tanning tradition offers more than just beautiful leather goods—it tells a tale of human skill, ecological ingenuity, and generational pride.
Yet, as this heritage craft navigates the 21st century, its future depends on balance. The very methods that make traditional Moroccan leather so prized—its use of natural materials, manual labor, and slow, artisanal processes—must now evolve alongside environmental safeguards and worker protections. Encouraging developments, such as waste treatment systems, fair-trade cooperatives, and eco-certifications, show that the industry is adapting without sacrificing its soul.
For conscious consumers and cultural enthusiasts alike, Moroccan leather represents something rare: a product with a story—one steeped in history, crafted by human hands, and rooted in the rhythms of a place. Supporting this craft means not only valuing beauty and durability, but also investing in the communities, traditions, and sustainable practices that keep it alive.