Have you ever wondered how leather is made? It is used in so many fashion items but do any of us stop to think of the processes that it goes through to get onto the shelves of the boutiques?
Well it goes through a process which is called tanning, basically called that way due to the tannic acids that are used to stop the leather from rotting or smelling. If you ever visit Morocco you will find lots of articles of leather for sale there that have not gone through the tanning process and consequently they smell quite a bit if not a lot!
So what does the tanning process consist of? Well first of all the skins of the animal have three levels of skin which are the epidermis, derma and finally the adipose (flesh), and all of these are stripped off except for the derma.
What is left after the stripping process is what they call hide and this hide is washed and soaked in alkaline water which apart from keeping the hide moist it also removes any remnants of blood, hair or dirt.
It is then put through the tanning process which involves immersing the hide into a highly acidic solution which bonds with the hide in order to make it resistant to any attack from bacteria. The hide is then dried and prepared for dyeing. The leather is then oiled and after buffed so that it ends up with a soft and supple texture and finally a polymer or wax is added to protect the surface of the leather.
So basically when you see nice soft leather garments in the shops, these are the stages that it has had to go through to finally arrive as a soft and smooth textured article of clothing.