What is the process of leather tanning?

Posted by houseofleather on November 9th, 2016

People from the early ages know how to use animal pelts for wrapping around their skin.  The fine art of leather tanning is however developed much later.  Only the in the middle of 18^th century it turned into regular industry.  The formation of the leather tanning as an industry has come a long way and it is an interesting journey.  They know it could be the best way to cover against harsh weather conditions. They know when animals are alive how skin will be; it is very soft, flexible, tough and hard for wear and tear.  As we know skin has minute pores and it allows water vapour to escape from the body but do not water into the skin.  When the animal dies it loses all the qualities of skin and it becomes hard.  The problem with the animal skin after the death of the animal is to protect it from getting spoiled. 

In fact skin is nothing but a protein made interwoven cells that requires lots of attention and care to preserve them for further use.  When the skin is wet, it starts rotting, when it is kept dry it become brittle and hard.  Therefore it is the need to protect the valuable skin under appropriate condition through proper processing.  Even the primitive man understood this very well, and the process of their skin tanning methods are very naïve and it was not a thorough process.  Anyway that is out of the scope of this article so let us focus our attention on the modern tanning process.  There are several stages involved in this simple term tanning.  The purpose of tanning is to retain the original softness and smoothness of the skin by using chemical treatment. 

Through chemical treatment it is possible for the animal hide to retain all its original properties and it retains every character of skin just like live skin.  That means the water vapour escapes from the body and never allows water enter into the skin pores; this is the specific quality necessary for many products that requires protection against weather conditions.  This is the specific property required for shoes and sandals so that it can offer good protection against foot and body.  This is what makes it cooler for women leather jackets.  Leather jackets for women; are luxury items and it is an appropriate gift for those who love and live luxurious lifestyle. 

The method of tanning also imparts resistance to heat and temperature.  This is one of the requisite qualities of leather.  In the tanning process tanner imposes color, texture, smoothness and required finish.  It is also used to enhance the appearance and transformed to suit present day fashion world.  It is well known that skin is made out of a substance known as collagen, to retain the elasticity of the skin, it is necessary to keep this collagen intact.  Modern technology and science shows how to retain this structure of collagen in its original form.  The entire process of unhairing, liming, deliming and pickling dying and other final touch ups are followed one after another continuously with due care to produce final product.

About the Author:

The writer is an expert in the field of Men & Ladies Fitted Leather Jackets with focus on Ladies Biker Leather Jackets