Fish skin is a by-product from the fishing and fish farming industry. After the fish has been harvested it is filleted, skinned and cut into portions for the retail and catering markets in Europe and around the world. Once removed the skins most often end up as waste. Nordic Fish Leather and its predecessors have since over 20 years worked on solutions to turn this neglected high-quality raw material into valuable product. The results can today be seen in outstanding products made by both individuals and large designer companies.

Aquaculture, or the farming of aquatic animals for food, yielded 80 million tons of fish in 2016 — becoming the largest source of seafood in the world, according to a new report by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. Marine fisheries, by comparison, yielded 79.3 million tons, and freshwater fisheries produced 11.6 million tons, the report found.

The rise of aquaculture speaks to broader changes throughout the global fish industry, which grew by 3% each year between 2003 and 2016 and will grow another 20% by 2030, the report notes.

However, more than 50% of the fish caught for human consumption is discarded resulting in almost 32 million tonnes of waste. A substantial amount of this is the skin, but improved usage of fish by-products could help meet increasing demand for seafood without further stress to the ecosystem. Fish skin requires less energy and resources to cultivate than conventional materials, so developing processes to transform post-consumer and industrial waste into new materials takes the pressure off cotton and polyester production and minimizes what ends up in the landfill.

The use of fish leather in Iceland is a very old tradition reaching back to the settlement of the island in the 9th century. The Norse Viking settlers brought with them this craftmanship from their home regions in Norway and Scandinavia. Throughout the ages the fish skin severed an important role with people all around the Icelandic coast. The skin from Wolffish was the most widely used fish leather as it is thick and strong. This skin was most often used to make simple shoes that were fitted on the inside with lamb wool. During the often very harsh winters in Iceland these shoes keep adults and children feet dry and warm.

This tradition of using fish skin for shoes carried on into the beginning of the 20th century and samples of such shoes can still be found in homes around the Island. In late 20th century pioneers in north of Iceland started to adapt modern tanning techniques to make fish skin usable for more applications. This was successful and today the fish leather produced by Nordic Fish Leather is being used for a wide variety of products, such as shoes, belts, handbags and different accessories.

Iceland is known for its harvest of the country’s renewable energy sources. The two main sources are hydroelectric and geothermal power. Nordic Fish Leather uses only renewable energy for its production of fish leather. 100% of the electricity supply is from a Hydro Electric power plant. The warm water derives from hot springs close to the town where the factory is located. The total power usage is therefore CO2 neutral.

All our Salmon and Cod fish leather derive from fisheries and farming industries that have got a third party sustainably accreditation.For the Cod, this accreditation is called MSC certification (www.msc.org)and for salmon it is both Global Gap (https://www.globalgap.org) and ASC certification (www.asc-aqua.org ).These three standards are known around the world as the leading sustainability standards for fish.