How is Leather Made?

Leather is produced by curing the skin of animals. You could use the skin of any animals but cows are used most often because the thickness of the skin makes the strongest leather. Once an animal has been slaughtered, it is skinned. The skin is given to a professional leather maker, or tanner, and they process the hide. The skin must then be prepared to be made into leather. Preparatory stages may consist of: bating, soaking, deliming, splitting, pickling, depickling, degreasing, unhairing, liming, reliming, bleaching, preservation, frizzing, and fleshing. Let's discuss the most common stages used.

The most popular process involves first scraping the leather clean of flesh. The hide is then cleaned and soaked to restore moisture while removing blood and dirt. Alkaline chemicals are added to the water to eat away the hair and outer epidermis layers. Once this is complete the water is stabilized so that enzymatic cleaners can be used to remove and organic debris that may remain on the hide.

The hide is then pickled in a highly acidic solution in order to prepare it for the tanning process. Tanning agents are added to help resist bacterial attack and the hides are run through rollers to remove moisture. The hides are ready for finishing.

First the hides are cut to the desired thickness for the intended use. The leather is dyed and oiled to help it remain soft and flexible. The leather is dehydrated once more, mechanically softened, and buffed to get a smooth attractive surface.

Although leather manufacturing was once a highly polluting industry tanneries of today recycle the chemicals used in the process which keeps them from dumping into the environment. Tanning still produces foul odors but is more socially acceptable not that it has tried to be more environmentally friendly in its business practices.