Leather Through the Ages

The use of hides and skins for many different applications is as old as man and today’s tanning industry is a direct result of some 40,000 years of continuous development. In the early days, drying provided a certain degree of conservation often in combination with smoking. There is also evidence of a very ancient use of fats, tallow, and vegetable tanning materials. Many archaeological finds from early civilisations show traces of leather and evidence of its uses. By Roman times tanning was already well developed and Roman sandals will by careful and new oiling still show a degree of flexibility and a certain degree of strength.

Tanned hides have been used in a multitude of ways including shoes, clothes, ropes, buckets, bowls, shields and building material with only man’s imagination limiting its use! Today, even though tanning uses modern chemicals and processes, the principles are unchanged. Chrome and vegetable extracts remain the principle-tanning agents and are often used in combination to produce particularly beautiful leathers. The use of leather remains very diverse ranging from hydraulic seals to the finest of leather garments. However, the majority is used for footwear, car and furniture upholstery, clothing, handbags, belts, and other small leather goods. In addition, there is a strong fashion to use leather for house interiors and as decoration. Leather wall panels and leather floor tiles can lend an exclusive touc h to a room both to look at and with its great smell!