vegetan noun2 •Vegetable-tanned leather, typically cow skin tanned using plant-derived tannins rather than chemicals.Vegetan is a stiffer leather that takes tooling very well, but it is easily damaged by water without further treatment. •A synthetic microfibre, intended to be used as a vegan substitute for leather.Today, its shoes are made from 'vegetan' and chrome-free leather (chrome is usually used in the dyeing process) for the uppers, — 2006