What is leather? It is the end product of tanning the rawhide of an animal to make it durable and yet very flexible. Leather is commonly made from cattle hide, though the skins from almost any animal (mammals, amphibians, reptiles) including exotic animals like ostriches, kangaroos, pythons and even camels can also be tanned into leather.
Leather Tanning
Tanning is a process that alters the protein layer (collagen fibers) that is the flesh on the hide into an imputrescible state. Rawhide is made by removing the other protein layers (fur, meat and fat). You can learn everything you need to know about the tanning process here.
Tanning of raw hides has been around before the dawn of written history. But scientists and chemists have yet to fully understand exactly what is happening on a molecular level because it is a rather complex end product, achieved through tanning, as it can be processed in many different ways. Leather objects are also multi-component as they often contain other materials besides leather.
Origins of Leather
The world’s oldest leather shoe, and by the same token, the world’s oldest leather artifact was uncovered in an Armenian cave in 2010 and radiocarbon dated it as some 5,500 years old. It’s astonishing state of preservation is solid evidence that our ancestors have perfected the art of leather tanning and leather preservation even before the Bronze Age.
However, archaeological evidence puts the domestication of cattle at around (8,500 B.C), so that would quite possibly mean the origins of leather and it’s tanning process could date as far back as 10,500 years ago! But empirical evidence suggests it goes even way much further back in time because the earliest modern day humans were hunter gatherers and they would have worn the hides of animals as clothing.
How Leather Is Made
It is interesting to note that not all the hide on an animal’s body will be tanned to leather. Leather made from the hide from various parts of the animal has differing qualities. For instance, the leather made from hide from the hind sections is different from that on the belly or shoulders.
The hide can be split into layers to achieve various depths of leather before or after tanning. The production process greatly affects the quality of the hide, playing a huge role in determining whether the product will be viewed as genuine leather based on the amount of surface coating.
Many people love leather and always look for genuine leather. Nevertheless, ask them “What is leather?” and they will just tell you it comes from animal rawhide. While that’s true, but too simplistic a definition of leather. Many do not know that it should have a thickness of no more than 0.15millimeters irrespective of the amount of surface coating in order to meet its legal definition.
What Type of Leather Is Available?
Leather comes in various forms depending on the production processes. These forms include:
- Brain Tanned Leather: It is particularly soft and washable. The production of this form of leather uses emulsified oil that are mostly extracts from the brains of animals.
- Vegetable Tanned Leather: Supple and delicate, needing a relatively high level of maintenance. It can harden, shrink, or even become brittle if soaked. The production of this type of leather uses extracts from vegetables, fruits, tree barks, roots, among other plant extracts.
- Synthetic Tanned Leather: It is white in color and is made through a process that uses aromatic polymers (synthetic plastics).
- Chamois Leather: It has good water absorption qualities and made via a process that also uses oils that oxidize, producing aldehydes.
- Chrome Tanned Leather: It is slightly liable to drastic changes in its shape and texture when in water. It is made from a production process that uses chromium sulfate and other chromium salts.
- Rawhide: This is the end product of an animal hide processed using the simplest of methods that involve scraping the skin to achieve a thin layer, and soaking the hide for some time, stretching it as it dries. It is stiff, brittle, and not commonly considered actual leather.
Other forms of leather include Alum-Tanned Leather, Rose Tanned Leather, Aldehyde-Tanned Leather, and Formaldehyde Leather.
Where Leather Is Used
The uses of leather are many with a considerable number of them being used in the worlds of fashion and decor. It is widely used in the making of various kinds of upholstery like seat backs, sofa and chair coverings that completely or partially cover the object. Furniture made with it can only be called “leather furniture” if all its visible and non-visible areas are covered in leather.
So, what is leather? It’s a durable and valuable natural material derived from processed animal skins that has a wide range of uses from fashion to furniture.
It plays such an important role in our lives that we simply cannot do without it. Look all around you, what do you see? You find many of your personal possessions are made from leather, as seen in this image here.
We need to carefully manage this valuable natural resource in a sustainable, environmentally friendly and responsible manner so that we can continue to enjoy its fine leather qualities for generations to come.