How is Leather Made

How is Leather Made

How is Leather Made – The Leather Making Process Explained

Leather is a prized possession that adds charm to day-to-day products. Be it your shoes, handbags, belts, or jackets, things made of leather would never go out of style. Leather is nurtured by nature and comes from the hides of animals which are treated to make it suitable for use. The process of obtaining leather is rather complex and needs great attention to get high-quality leather, which is why leather is comparatively more expensive than other materials. In this blog, we will dive deep into the process of leather making from start to finish, so you can understand the efforts and time it takes to produce your favourite leather goods.

The various stages of the leather-making process are as follows –

Obtaining Hides – The primary raw material of the leather industry comes from animal skins, be it sheep, goat, lamb, cow, pigs, or exotics like crocodile, ostrich and others. Most of the animal skin is sourced from food industry-based slaughterhouses, where animal skin is produced as a by-product. The animal skin so obtained is stored in a salt solution to prevent it from decay.

Preserving the Leather – Animal hide is an organic material that would decay if left unattended, preserving the hide using salt, or freezing it to prevent deterioration of the animal skin is a must. As soon as animal hide is removed it must be preserved to protect it from decaying until it is processed.

Fleshing – The animal skin is cleaned by liming it to remove the hair from the animal skin. Then the flesh tissues and other residual salt, blood and impurities are removed from the collagen tissues which are transformed into leather in the next process. The obtained hide is known as pelt, which is neutralized to prepare it for tanning.

Tanning – This is the most crucial step of the process which stabilizes the hides and transforms perishable animal hides into durable leather which can stand the test of time for years to come. There are primarily two types of tanning vegan tanning, and mineral tanning, as the name suggests vegetable tannins are obtained from plants while mineral tanning is done using chrome and other minerals and chemicals. Animal hide soaked in the tanning agent is kept in large drums, so it gets absorbed completely by the hide. Once the tanning process is completed, you get the product called leather which is then split into layers of leather to obtain full-grain, top-grain, and genuine leather as required.

Retanning – Retanning helps define the various characteristics of leather as per its specific usage. Softness, strength, flexibility, and other aspects are cultivated in leather by using syntans and fat liquors in the right amount to get the desired properties of leather. Leather is neutralized to get rid of any chemical remains from the leather, once done the leather is dried and bleached to prepare it for dyeing.

Dyeing – It is the process of colouring the leather to desired colours, it involves leaving the leather soaked in the dye for hours to ensure the colours penetrate deep in the leather. Dyeing is a crucial process and requires precision workers to give leather that perfect colour as needed. Once done leather is sent for the final finishing process.

Finishing – This process enhances the appearance of the leather by ensuring even colour, sheen and gloss throughout the leather. It also adds a layer of protection that helps prevent leather from damage. Different leather types go through different processes such as drumming to make leather soft and flexible, hand rubbing and buffing to make the leather surface even, waxing for sheen, embossing to mark the brand logo and others as per the requirements of the product the leather will be used for. Once the finishing process is completed, the leather is tested for quality.

The above-mentioned processes are followed to produce quality leather for your favourite accessories and leather goods. Apart from these, there are many other treatments and processes that are followed in order to create custom leather as per the specific needs and requirements of the clients. At each step of the process utmost precision and supervision are required to make sure none of the required properties of leather are missed during the process, or it would make leather unsuitable.

The finished leather is sent to fashion houses where skilled craftsmen shape the leather into various products such as bags, jackets, shoes, wallets and many more products we love. The long list of processes involved and the meticulous craftsmanship needed to shape the leather make it prized and expensive.

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