What is it and what are the origins of leather goods?

The origins of leather goods go back thousands and thousands of years, but the process has evolved until today, although we can always find small Arab merchants who continue with the traditional production steps.

From Alcazaba Decoration, we want to show you the history of this artisanal craft and how leather is treated . We are specialists in the production of leather products such as Arabic-style leather footwear , purses, backpacks, etc.

What is leather goods?

Leatherwork is a technique that consists of treating leather to give it different uses or shapes. This process mixes handwork together with natural chemical components to achieve a very moldable leather.

To be experts in leather , in addition to the skin preparation technique , artisans must know:

• Create patterns for the creation of different products.
• Know the raw materials that work.
• Know the hardware and adhesives used.
• Take into account the coatings and interiors of each product.
• Properly use tools and machinery.

Leather production and treatment process

First, we would begin with the preparation of the tanning . All the animal's hair is removed and washed with plenty of water and salt to prevent the skin from rotting. Once it is clean, it is preserved in salt to begin the transformation.

Next, the skin is tanned . The first step is to cut the limbs and soak the fur in water for at least 8 hours. Even if it is a very large skin, it can last up to 48 hours. After that, natural components are used to stabilize the skin's collagen and achieve leather.

The natural chemical components used are:

• Vegetable tanning : this is a sap extracted from the bark of trees called tannin, the skins are stretched and placed in vats with high concentrations.
• Mineral tanning : this emerged in the 19th century, chrome is used to obtain a more resistant and durable leather. This technique is much faster than vegetable tanning.

The next step is to remove moisture from the skin to later scrape it and leave a homogeneous thickness of the leather .

Sometimes, it is common to retan the leather , which has been tanned with the mineral technique , with tannins to achieve a softer and more natural appearance of the leather fabric .

The last step is to refine the piece using oils that give the leather its special texture and quality.

What are the origins of leather goods?

The origins of leather goods date back to prehistory where man already used skins to protect themselves from the cold. Although an art as such is not worked here.

Between 6000 BC and 4000 BC, sandals, bags to store utensils and some clothing items with raw and untreated skin began to be made. Ancient Egypt was when the first innovations occurred.

However, it was not until the 3rd century BC, during the Roman Empire, when artisans used this technique of tanning the skin with chemicals such as lime or sulfur to make sandals, leather bags and even military armor.

All Roman soldiers had a perfect uniform made of leather, along with shoes and equipment for their horses. They were also the precursors of carrying this military equipment until the Middle Ages.

Although at that time it was not called leather goods , the term arises from the French maroquin or maron , which translates as Moroccan or Morocco. It is coined this way because the artisans of Morocco were the most skilled and sophisticated at working with leather.

To this day, leather in fashion has been a success and they are very versatile garments and products that stand the test of time.

Although most people work with skins, there has been some disapproval of the use of animal skin to create leather and it is very common to see countless products made synthetically with a very faithful imitation of leather.

Although a lot of machinery has been incorporated into the leather manufacturing process , we can find many cities with artisans who work leather 100% manually. Did you know this ancient tradition? Have you ever bought a leather product? What do you think of the origins of leather goods?