Different Types of Leather Shoes

Leather production is an ancient human activity. As long ago as the fifth millennium BC the Sumerians were fashioning long dresses from cured animal skins; the ancient Egyptians made leather gloves and the Phoenicians used it to construct water pipes. Most leather today is a by-product of the meat industry and is taken from cows because of their availability, their size and quality of the leather. Leather is also taken from a wide range of other animals such as pigs, sheep, deer, horses, and kangaroos. More exotic leathers come from ostriches, alligators, snakes, frogs and various fish.

Each type of leather will have a particular set of qualities, uses and appearance. The quality of leather produced by a specific animal is influenced by a range of factors. Some of these are to do with the conditions in which the animal lived: diet, nutrition and climate or exposure to disease, for example. Other factors that affect the leather’s quality come into play once the animal has been slaughtered, such as the tanning chemicals, dyes and stains used, as well as the shipping and handling methods.

A tanned cowhide can have a thickness of up to ten millimeters, but the full thickness of a hide is rarely used, except for belts. The uppermost surface of the hide is the side from which the hair has been removed. The inner layer is where the hide originally connected to the flesh. The fibre structure of the leather varies throughout the thickness of the hide, being tightest and densest at the upper layer and looser toward the lower side.

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