Interesting Facts About Leather-Making You Didn’t Know

Leather is a remarkable material. It can do so much and take on so many forms. It has been in the world for thousands of years: Egyptian royalty even used it to make furniture, sails for boats, and clothing. It’s the result of animal hide byproducts that undergo physical and chemical processes that completely reconstruct the physical dynamic of the original organic material. Let’s see what other interesting facts we can discover about leather and the leather-making process.

Leather Can Be Made From Other Sources

People often think of leather as a product made from cowhide, but it can also be made from multiple types of animals and even other materials. For instance, leather made from exotic animals such as alligators, snakes, and even ostriches is considered very valuable.

It Earns Some of the Highest Revenue Around

The leather-making process takes something very raw and organic and turns it into something completely new and valuable. So depending on what you’re buying, leather can get quite pricy. On average, the leather industry grosses 53 billion dollars annually—more than most other globally traded goods, from coffee to tea to sugar.

On Leather Quality

You can always tell how high-quality something is by how it reacts to being worn and whether it holds up or breaks down under pressure. Quality is something you should always keep an eye out for in leather products. High-quality leather can change forms to adapt to hot, cold, wet, and dry conditions. But if your leather has a hard time making these adjustments and cracks or breaks on you, these are red flags that it wasn’t properly made.

These were just a few interesting facts about leather-making that you didn’t already know—or maybe you did! Either way, you’re now well-informed on leather and how it’s made.