Materials Codexery

Leather

A durable material made from tanned animal hides.

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Leather is a strong, flexible, and durable material made by chemically treating animal skins to prevent decay.[1] Cattle, sheep, goats, horses, buffalo, pigs, ostriches, and aquatic creatures such as seals and alligators are among the animals whose skins provide the most common leathers.[1] China and India currently lead the world in leather production, an activity that has been carried out for over seven millennia.[2]

Quick Facts

Origin
Animal hides and skins
Leading producers
China and India
Common uses
  • Clothing
  • footwear
  • handbags
  • furniture
  • tools
  • sports equipment
Primary tanning methods
  • Vegetable
  • chrome
  • aldehyde
  • brain
  • alum

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Vegetable tanning, which uses tannins from tree bark, is the oldest known tanning method.[3] Chrome tanning, developed in the late 19th century, uses chromium salts and takes about one day, making it the most common modern method.[4] Leather takes 25 to 40 years to decompose, which is much longer than cotton but much shorter than plastics.[5] Compared to vegetable-tanned leather, chrome-tanned leather exhibits greater flexibility and pliability, and it resists discoloration and shape loss when exposed to water.[4]

Aldehyde-tanned leather, known as "wet white" because of its pale cream color, is the predominant chrome-free variety and is frequently used in footwear for babies and in car interiors.[6] Full-grain leather retains the entire grain layer and is typically regarded as the finest quality leather available.[7] The label "genuine leather" does not refer to any particular grade; it often denotes split leather that has undergone extensive processing.[8] Per square meter of production, the carbon footprint for bovine leather is estimated to fall between 65 and 150 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent.[9]

What the research sources say

According to "Materials for Interior Environments," patent leather originated in the late 1700s and gained widespread use after Seth Boyden created the first mass-production method in 1818, which employed a lacquer based on linseed oil.[10][11] In leather manufacturing, proteases are employed more frequently than any other enzyme, and they must be selective so that collagen and keratin remain undamaged.[12] During degreasing, lipases break down fat particles that are lodged within the skin through hydrolysis.[13]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gillan, "Comprehensive Guide to Leather Repair and Restoration: Leather Repair Training Manual", Advanced Leather Solutions, Inc., May 2019, p. 16; "Leather", March 5, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gillan, "Comprehensive Guide to Leather Repair and Restoration: Leather Repair Training Manual", Advanced Leather Solutions, Inc., May 2019, p. 16; "Leather", March 5, 2020; Kwasny, "Putting on the Dog: The Animal Origins of What We Wear", The University Press, April 17, 2019 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Various, "The Vegetable Tanning Process - A Collection of Historical Articles on Leather Production", Read Books Limited, September 17, 2020; "Tanning--leather manufacturing", Encyclopedia Britannica (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mengistie, "Ultrasound assisted chrome tanning: Towards a clean leather production technology.", Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, September 2016, p. 204–212; "Tanning--leather manufacturing", Encyclopedia Britannica (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lisa, "How long it takes 50 common items to decompose", Stacker, 2023-04-14; "Why Doesn't Plastic Biodegrade?", LIVESCIENCE, 2 March 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sahu, "Recent trends in oil tanning and its applications - A way forward towards cleaner approach in chamois leather making", Journal of Cleaner Production, July 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Bicast: what is it and how does it perform? - Leather International", www.leathermag.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Genuine leather: the difficult truth", Carl Friedrik; Popoff, "The Ultimate Guide to Leather Grades", Popov Leather, 7 October 2019; Green, "Why everything you thought you knew about buying quality leather is wrong", Business Insider; "What is Genuine Leather?", BestLeather.org; "All You Need to Know About "Genuine Leather"", Dalgado; "Genuine leather", The Leather Dictionary; "US Code of Federal Regulations Title 16, Chapter I, Subchapter B, Part 24—Guides for select leather and imitation leather products", eCFR; "Genuine leather", The Leathe en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chen, "Analyzing the Carbon Footprint of the Finished Bovine Leather: A Case Study of Aniline Leather", Energy Procedia, 2014, p. 1063–1066 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Binggeli, "Materials for Interior Environments", John Wiley & Sons, 2013, p. 119 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Open Library record, ISBN 9781118421604 ("Materials for Interior Environments"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Heidemann, "Fundamentals of Leather Manufacture", Eduard Roether KG, 1993, p. 211 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Leather" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bienkiewicz, "Physical Chemistry of Leather Making", Robert E. Krieger, 1983, p. 226 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Leather (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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