CLRI comes up with leather from chicken legs

Scientists at the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) have come up with a technology of manufacturing leather from chicken legs to get around a possible shortage of leather production because of the beef ban in some states.

CLRI claims that the fabric made of chicken legs would be similar to that the fabric made from baby alligators’ skin.

"With the beef ban in some states and availability of green technology, we have told the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) to come up with synthetic leather or an alternative that can address the demand," Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Director General Girish Sahni told reporters in New Delhi.

The CLRI is a laboratory under the CSIR.

The CLRI which is primarily a research institute now has to find a way to make the technology commercially viable.

CLRI Director B Chandrasekaran, however, allayed fears that the beef ban could lead to shortage of leather because there are other sources like sheep, goat and buffalo. He also clarified that fabric made of chicken legs cannot replace leather as raw material of an entire range of products.

“At the parallel level, we also made products out of this leather. But it can act as an embellishment, or at the maximum it can be used to prepare small leather bags," Chandrasekaran said.