An overview

2. INTRODUCTION
Leather is a durable and flexible
material created via the tanning of
animal raw hide and skin, primarily
cattle hide. It is animal skin that has been
processed to retain its flexibility,
toughness, and waterproof nature.
People use leather to make various
goods—including clothing (e.g., shoes,
hats, jackets, skirts, trousers, and
belts). It is produced in a wide variety of
types and styles, decorated by a wide
range of techniques.

3. HISTORY
 Prehistoric people wrapped animal
skins around their bodies for warmth.
Romans used leather for shoes and
tunics as well as for breastplates and
shields. In fact, the first recorded
tanning guild was formed in the
Roman Empire.

4.  Ancient Hebrews are credited with
inventing the first tanning process
using oak bark. The American
Indians used fish oil for the same
purpose. American colonists found
that plants such as the hemlock and
chest-nut trees could also be used for
tanning.

5.  In the 19th century, machines were
developed to perform these processes
and an American chemist developed a
tanning method using chromium salts
that cut the processing time from
weeks or months to just a few hours.

6. TYPES OF LEATHER
 Full-grain leather
refers to the leather
which has not the
upper "top grain"
and "split" layers
separated.

7.  Top-grain leather
is the second-
highest quality and
has the“ split"
layer separated
away, making it
thinner and more
pliable than full
grain.

8.  Corrected-grain
leather is any
leather that has an
artificial grain
applied to its
surface.
 The imperfections
are corrected or
sanded off, and an
artificial grain
embossed into the
surface and dressed
with stain or dyes.

9.  Split leather is leather created
from the fibrous part of the
hide left once the top-grain of
the rawhide has been separated
from the hide.
 In very thick hides, the middle
split can be separated into
multiple layers until the
thickness prevents further
splitting. Split leather then has
an artificial layer applied to the
surface of the split and is
embossed with a leather grain.

10. Leather used in specialty products, such
as briefcases, wallets, and luggage
 Belting leather is a full-grain
leather that was originally
used in driving pulley belts
and other machinery. It is
found on the surface of
briefcases, portfolios, and
wallets, and can be identified
by its thick, firm feel and
smooth finish. Belting leather
is generally a heavy-weight of
full-grain, vegetable-tanned
leather.

11.  Napa leather is
chrome-tanned
and is soft and
supple. It is
commonly
found in wallets
and other
personal leather
goods.

12.  Bycast leather is a
split leather with a
layer of polyurethane
applied to the surface
and then embossed.
Bycast was originally
made for the shoe
industry and it was also
adopted by the
furniture industry.

13. Less-common leathers
• Buckskin or brained leather is
manufactured by tanning process that uses
animal brains or other fatty materials to
alter the leather.
• Patent leather is leather that has been
given a high-gloss finish.

14. • Vachetta leather is used in the trimmings
of luggage and handbags. The leather is
left untreated.
• It is likely to be influenced by water and
stains.

15.  Slink is leather made from the skin of
unborn calves. It is particularly soft and is
valued for use in making gloves.

16. • Deerskin is a tough leather, possibly due
to the animal's adaptations to its thorny
and thicket-filled habitats.

17.  Nubuck is top-grain cattle hide leather
that has been sanded or buffed on the
grain side, or outside, to give a slight nap
of short protein fibers, producing a velvet-
like surface.

18. Production of Leather
The leather manufacturing process
is divided into three fundamental sub-
processes:
1. Preparatory stages
2. Tanning
3. Crusting

19. 1. Preparatory stages
In the preparatory stages the skin (raw hide)
is cleaned and sterilized, under this process all
the unwanted matter like Flesh and blood stains
are removed.
It may includes :
(A) Soaking : under which the raw hide is
washed and is put in water for the moment.
(B) Unhairing : Just includes removal of hair.
(C) Splitting : It includes cutting the raw hide
into many pieces of horizontal layers.

20. (D) Degreasing : Under this, most of
the fats and oil are removed.
(E) Bleaching : Chemical
modification of dark pigments and
stains to yield lighter coloured raw
hide.
(F)Saline treatment : Under this, all
the harmful bacteria are neutralized
with the help of salt solution.

21. Preparatory Stage

22. 2. Tanning
Tanning is the process that converts the raw
hide into more stable form.
In this process the proteins and fibers of the
raw hide is reacted with certain chemicals,
which changes the property of the materials and
makes it more stable for the longer usability.
In this process leather is treated with
chromium which tans the leather and change
the colour to Light Blue for this the product is
commercial called “Wet Blue”.

23. Tanning processes
Several tanning processes transform
hides and skins into leather
1. Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned
using tannins and other ingredients
found in different vegetable matter, such
as wood, leaves, fruits, roots and other
similar sources. It is supple and brown in
colour, with the exact shade depending
on the mix of chemicals and the colour
of the skin. It is the only form of leather
suitable for use in leather carving.

24.  2. Chrome-tanned leather is tanned
using chromium sulphate and other salts
of chromium. It is more flexible and
pliable than vegetable-tanned leather and
does not discolour or lose shape in water
as vegetable-tanned.

25.  3. Brain tanned leathers are made by a
labor-intensive process which uses animal
brains. They are known for their softness
and their ability to be washed.

26.  4. Alum-tawed leather is transformed
using aluminium salts mixed with a
variety of binders and protein sources,
such as flour and egg yolk.

27.  5. Rawhide is made by scraping the skin
thin, soaking it in lime, and then
stretching it while it.

28. 3. Crusting
Crusting is the process by which the skin is
thinned, retanned, lubricated, soften and
simultaneously coloured by the use of
chemical.
The precautions which are to be taken by
crusting are as below :
(A) Amount of chemicals used
(B) Temperature & Pressure
(C) pH i.e. Maintain between 4.5 to 6.5
(D) Drying : The leather is dried to various
moisture levels
(E) Removal of moisture i.e. 40% to 55% water
is squeezed out of leather

29. LEATHER PRODUCTS
 Footwear's
 Garments and Blazers
 Wallets
 Belts
 Handbags and purses
 Phone covers
 Laptop Bags
 Key chains
 Gloves

33. Advantages
 Durability
 Fashionable and good appearance
 Strength
 Flexibility
 Waterproof
 Easy to clean

34. Disadvantages
 Expensive
 It is made from animal skin. Animals are
treated very harshly to obtain leather.
 Soft leather requires proper care and
maintenance.
 Spoils when exposed to water.
 Leather can stretch and show stretch
marks over a long period of time.

36. Strength
 Online presence
 Large raw material base
 High growth
 Continuous focus on product
development and design upgradation.

37. Weakness
 Competitive pricing
 Not suitable for long use
 Poor supply chain
 Uneconomical size of manufacturing units
 Less number of organized product
manufacturers
 Lack of warehousing support
 Lack of strongholds in global fashion market
 No special transportation base
 Lack of water saving device

38. Opportunity
 Growing fashion awarances
 Use of e-commerce in direct
marketing
 Government support
 Upgrade to international methods of
work
 Innovation in technology

39. Threats
 Entry of multinational
 Marketing strategy
 Strong competitor
 Increasing inflation is considered a
threat which would increase overall
input cost, as well as, conversion
costs

40. Environmental impact
Addition to the environmental impacts
of leather, the production processes have a
high environmental impact, most notably
due to:
The heavy use of polluting chemicals in
the tanning process
Air pollution due to the transformation
process

41. References
 http://www.saddlebackleather.com/craftsman
ship/chpt4-leather-101-lesson-in-leather
 http://www.google.co.in/search?client=ms-
android-
samsung&q=types+of+leather&sa=xved-
qiiiryge.
 http://googleweblight.com/?lite_url=https://e
n.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/leather_production_p
rocesses&ei=fgfq4aoa&lc=en-
in&s=1&m=409&host=www.google.co.in&t
s=1481644669&sig=af9nedlxduhk00y7-
qt0lldyfbrscnpzxg.