Leather has always been one of the most widely used fabric types in fashion and interior design. You may have worn your favourite leather satchel or winter gloves without even realising that this material has been around for thousands of years.
This raises the question — is leather a thing of the past, or will it still be a must-have material for clothing and accessories in the future? In this guide, we’ll give you a detailed answer as we explore the history of leather and its current and future uses.
History of Leather
The roots of leather as a fabric extend to ancient times, probably way further back than you would have assumed, some 5,000 years ago. To be more precise, its origin can be dated back to the Bronze Age, during which our ancestors wore leather shoes. Following that train of thought, we can only assume that ancient men also used leather for shelter.
Although all these claims may seem odd, history taught us that earlier civilisations were much more advanced than we thought.
Leather was used in Ancient Rome and Egypt—we’re talking about already fabricated and tanned leather. The process of tanning and preserving hide is now routine, but it was originally accomplished through sun drying and curing with salt. In fact, it is believed that Ancient Egyptians used a process similar to today’s tanning thousands of years ago.
Still, we’ve come a long way since then, and leather is now meticulously manufactured for a variety of purposes, including clothing, footwear, and furniture.
Contemporary Use of Leather
Today, leather is mass-produced worldwide, with some of the biggest centres in China, India, and Italy. There are even implications that leather production in India started with British soldiers who needed horse saddles and leather equipment. Now, the country has one of the biggest leather product exports in the world.
While the use of leather in fashion is obvious, the fabric holds great value in other fields as well:
- Clothing
- Footwear
- Upholstery
- Automotive industry
- Tools
- Sports
- Jewellery
- Furniture
We can go as far as to say that the material stood the test of time. Even as other industries developed rapidly and changed dramatically, leather stood its ground and remained unchanged.
High-quality leather has always been a sign of class and status. For instance, wearing premium leather inside a casino venue has always been a mark of class. If you were to walk into a casino right now and see a patron wearing luxury leather items, you would assume they were well off.
While the gambling industry has come a long way, with platforms like Mega Casino, an example of a popular choice in UK online gambling sites, offering a Vegas-style experience from the comfort of your home, there’s still no substitute for the luxury of full-grain leather
Outside of fashion, this material is also suitable for stitching football balls, producing baseball gloves, and even crafting cycling seats. In addition to being used in producing some tools, leather is often used to make high-end interiors for cars.
Leather in the Modern World
In the modern world, leather continues to be in high demand, regardless of the complex tanning process. Production has become much more efficient over the years, and if you’d like to learn more about the whole process, click here.
Leather still remains a vital component used in sports equipment, high-end furniture, and expensive car seats. While faux leather can sometimes replace it, there’s no way to substitute full grain, top grain, or genuine leather with something so synthetic.
We have reasons to believe that leather will retain its status as a highly sustainable and eco-friendly fabric. It can even be recycled for future use, which is crucial for mass-produced leather products like sports gear.
This material is also a source of income for many families worldwide since millions are employed in leather production. Last but not least, leather outlasts a lot of other materials and those qualities are rarely found in other types of fabric, especially in clothing and accessories.
Conclusion
To understand leather’s usage as a fabric and a material, you have to travel through time. Despite updates to the tanning process and changes in leather-production control and audits, leather’s role in modern-day life only seems to grow. It’s safe to say that we all have at least one leather clothing item that we hold dear, and will continue to invest in quality pieces for many years to come.