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

The origins of leather goods They date back thousands and thousands of years, but the process has evolved to the present day, although we can always find small Arab merchants who continue with the traditional production steps.

From Alcazaba Decoration, we want to show you the story about this craft craft y how the leather is treated. We are specialists in the realization of leather products , the Arabic style leather footwear, purses, backpacks, etc.

What is leather goods?

Leather goods is a technique that consists of treat leather to be able to give it different uses or forms. This process mixes the work by hand together with natural chemical components to achieve a highly moldable leather.

To be leather expertsIn addition to skin preparation technique, artisans should know:

• Make patterns for the creation of different products.
• Know the raw materials that work.
• Know the hardware and adhesives that are used.
• Take into account the coatings and interiors of each product.
• Use tools and machinery properly.

Leather processing and treatment process

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

Then proceed to leather tanning, the first step is to cut the limbs and soak the coat in water for at least 8 hours. Even if it is a skin with a very large size, it can be up to 48 hours. After that, we proceed to use natural components to stabilize the collagen of the skin and get the leather.

The natural chemical components that are used are:

• Vegetable tanning: it 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 nineteenth century, chrome is used to get a more resistant and durable leather. This technique is much faster than vegetable tanning.

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

Sometimes it is common to have a leather retanning, which has been tanned with the mineral technique, with tannins to get 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 It dates back to prehistory where man already used fur to protect himself 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 garment with the raw and untreated skin. It was in ancient Egypt that the first innovations occurred.

However, it was not until the XNUMXrd century BC, during the Roman Empire, that artisans used this chemical tanning technique like 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 forerunners of carrying this military equipment until the Middle Ages.

Although at that time it was not called as leather goods, the term comes from the French Moroccan o maron, which translates as Moroccan or Morocco. It is coined like this because Moroccan artisans they were the most skilled and sophisticated at working leather.

To this day, the leather in fashion It has been a success and they are very versatile garments and products that expire over time.

Although the majority work with hides, there has been some disapproval of the use of animal skin for the creation of leather and it is very common to see an infinity of products made in a synthetic way with a very faithful imitation of leather.

Although much has been incorporated machinery in the leather manufacturing processWe can find many cities with artisans who work leather 100% by hand. Did you know this ancient tradition? Have you ever bought a leather product? What do you think of the origins of leather goods?