This Monday morning in the New eco on France Bleu Hérault, we present to you eco-friendly sneakers made in part with waste from the sea.
Sneakers for Pantuna. They are made with Italian leather, French leather and innovative leather from recycled tuna skins.
The Barba brothers invented the concept. The Barba house, well known in Béziers since they market fish and especially tuna.
Hervé Barba, one of the creators of the Maison Pantuna was the guest of France Bleu Hérault this Monday morning.
How did you come up with the idea that we could recycle tuna leather?
We are a family specializing in seafood. My brother and I, Benoît, are the fifth generation to perpetuate this business expertise in seafood products. And so we sell a lot of swordfish, cuttlefish cephalopods, octopus, squid, but also a lot of tuna.
So we cut a lot of tuna in our factory, mainly in Villeneuve lès Béziers. And when we cut, we inevitably have pulpit scraps that remain usable organic matter. Some offcuts go to new markets, such as animal feed or other manufacturers who will make prepared meals. But there is a part of the co-products from the cutting of tuna that we do not value, in particular the skin. And I said to myself one day why not try to recover this waste and make leather out of it?
I guess it didn’t happen by itself. Did you have to do a lot of experiments?
First of all, we met a tanner whose job it is because it’s not our job at all. François Roques from Mégisserie La Moulières in the Tarn really liked our idea and our project.. He likes challenges. It still took him two years to manage to give from 2016 to 2018 to manage to go from skin to leather.
Why shoes? Why not also handbags, clothes?
The first tests that we did in the factory were models of pumps for women, which is relatively complicated. Feedback from the factory has been extremely positive,The leather reacted really well. And since we like Snickers, it’s fashionable, it’s mixed, that’s why we got into sneakers
Beyond the ecological aspect, is there any other added value in buying tuna leather sneakers? Are they stronger, prettier, more comfortable?
Prettier, I’ll tell you yes, more comfortable too. We made the choice to start with a relatively high-end product. We took a very good quality. It’s not just tuna, the main thing, it’s still veal. The interior of the shoe is lined from heel to toe in lambskin. So we are on a very high level of comfort. One has the impression of being in slippers. We launched the marketing mid-August at the beginning of September. We have three models and three colors per model with 155 euros to 205 euros. It is a mixed shoe that goes from 36 to 46.
Do you have other projects to use this tuna leather since here we are limited to shoes?
In the future, we will go on other models, that’s for sure, and maybe other colors. And also small leather accessories in leather goods, jewelry. We don’t close the door. In any case, the material is very strong, but at the same time very flexible. We are on vegetable tanning, so something still ecological. And then there is no smell, I specify.
We only find your sneakers online, will you soon be distributed in stores too?
Our goal was to sell only on the web,online, on the website. Now, we are well aware that it is always nice to be able to touch, to be able to try. So after reflection, we will position ourselves in three stores in the region to start. But we are well placed in terms of price-quality, so we don’t necessarily have the leeway to leave room for a lot of intermediaries.