What is leather?

Leather is a natural, organic material, which is created through the process of tanning animal rawhide in order to preserve it, and there are not two completely similar pieces of leather. It has been used for as long as humans have existed due to its many useful and beneficial characteristics. Since leather is natural and organic, it is also very unique. All pieces of leather are marked by the life of the animal, including the climate and other influential factors. The animals, which have lived freely in large herds, often have one or more brands on their skin or marks from scars and insect bites. This is in contrast to the European animals, which are the ones closest to being flawless, since the animals have lived rather sheltered lives. Often, the flaws on the skins from European animals are made by the butcher’s knife.

Starting from the outside, the skin of the animal consists of three different layers; the epidermis, the dermis and the sub-cutaneous layer. The dermis layer constitutes around 85% of the total thickness of the skin, whereas the epidermis constitutes only 1% out of the thickness and the sub-cutaneous layer only around 14% of the total thickness. Both the epidermis and the sub-cutaneous layer is removed in the tanning process, as the dermis layer is the one used for making leather.
Leather is a very popular material and it is in many ways superior to synthetic materials, both when it comes to durability, resilience, comfort etc. Furthermore, it is both beautiful and unique, which strengthens its popularity. Leather is one of the materials, which only becomes more and more beautiful in time, since age gives the skin patina, due to its ability the absorb body oils etc. Patina gives the skin even more value and makes it even more unique and beautiful.

Back when the primitive man hunted animals, he also used the hides for both clothing, shelter etc. However, they needed a form of preservation, since both cold and warm temperatures would damage the skins. Different preservation methods were used, where some were better than others. Through time, the tanning methods became more refined and since the demand for new kinds of leathers appeared, the chrome tanning became the preferred type for modern footwear and fashion.

Leather has been used for many years and for many purposes. Even though the ways in which leather is used today is different from the way leather was originally used, it is still a coveted material with a great amount of valuable and unique characteristics.