History

One of man’s earliest and most valuable findings is leather. Leather was originally used by humans to protects themselves from the elements, as it was used for clothing, footwear and to make tents etc. Leather was an extremely useful material, however, our ancestors had to find a way to preserve the skins in order to use them for a longer time. Thus, tanning of leather is a very old human activity, since it was necessary for the primitive man to come up with ways to preserve the skins. Today, hides and skins are used as by-products, which was also the case back then. The primitive man mainly hunted animals for food, but also in order to use to use the hides for shelter, clothing etc. Preservation was necessary, as the skins were damaged by both low and high temperatures. One of the first forms of preservation entailed that animal fats were rubbed in; however, the effect of this method was limited and new methods of preservation were developed.
Later on, the processes involved smoking using burning leaves etc. or drying it or dehydrating it with salt, but they all had their limitations. Later on, vegetable tanning or bark tanning was developed. This tanning methods involved the tannin, which is found in tree bark, and it created water repellent, durable leather. The vegetable tanning was crucial to the development of civilization and the leather was traded in both Europe, North Africa, India and the Middle East.
Throughout time, the methods of tanning became more and more refined and effective, since the demand for new types of leather appeared during the Industrial Revolution. Such new kinds of leather could be used to drive machinery etc. Also, the demand for leather used for clothing and shoes appeared and this meant a demand for lighter, softer footwear and leather in different colors. Therefore, it was necessary to use a different tanning method, since the vegetable tanning was too thick. This entailed that chrome tanning became the preferred type of tanning for fashion and footwear leathers.
Today, leather is still an extremely popular and valuable material, which is used for many purposes. As mentioned, leather is a by-product from the industry, as the main purposes are for the meat, dairy and wool industry. However, leather for fashion, footwear, as part of interior design etc. is still is high demand.