Most women are seeking for those types of fashion accessories, which are eye-catching; either by the color, texture or shape. Nowadays, there are several materials in the market however the main one used by traditional craftsmanship dating many years back is leather!!
Most famous brands use leather as their main primary material to elaborate their masterpieces, strengthening their brand value.
Before going into further details, first let’s talk about where leather products originate.
Leather is the material one obtains after treating animal fabric layer and going through the tanning process. During this process, involving acidic chemical compound is used preventing animal skin from becoming rotten and less susceptible to decomposition due to the use of an acidic chemical compound called tanning.
The use of leather dates back to the Roman Empire, even though most of the leather has been treated in Spain-one of the most famous countries for elaborating the highest quality of leather articles-Without going too far, in Ubrique (South Spain) originating over 70% of all leather products in Spain, producing for popular fashion brands such as; Louis Vuitton, Carolina Herrera, Prada, Chloe…
After this brief introduction about leather, the most common used material for accessory articles – let’s talk about the different types of leather used.
An interesting fact to know – the leather will vary depending on sever factors: animal skin age, origin, sex and the way it was treated.
Below you will find the most common types of leather:
1. BOVINE
COW
This type of leather presents some kind of ambiguity given the fact the skin is very resistant due to its rigidity, at the same time being highly flexible. These properties make this leather strong and highly appropriate for products such as handbags as they are many tanning options that may be applied.
CALF
The main characteristic of this type of leather is the softness and thinness. In spite of being a delicate skin which is results on a velvety leather, it really resistant.
2. CAPRINE
GOAT
Providing extremely high quality leather. Well known for the thin and soft texture, which women love. In addition, this type of leather tends to have a matte finishing.
SHEEP
In comparison to the goat leather, the sheep leather is very similar due to the texture, however it is more flexible and resistant. Generally preferred by consumers seeking the best quality materials.
3. PORCINE
The porcine leather (mainly form pigs) is very peculiar due to the fact that is recognizable by the little holes in groups of three, which can be seen on superficial of the skin. The main characteristics of this leather are resistance, durability and strength.
4. EQUINE
The main characteristics of equine (mainly form horses) are very similar to those of the cow, though it tends be more affordable as it has lower quality in comparison with the bovine leather.
5. REPTILES
In comparison with the skin of other animal categories, reptiles don’t have any feathers or hairs. In fact the reptiles’ skin is well known because one can perfectly appreciate the skin scales.
The most common skin used for this animal category is python, mainly due to its exotic patterns, which tend to stand out more than others and generally representing the most luxurious exclusive skin.
The main inconvenience for fashion companies customs when exporting python or several other exotic skin products. CITES controls international trade authorized by the licensing system. Roughly 5,800 species of animals and 30,000 species of plants are protected by CITES against over-exploitation through international trade.
This is creating a shift in the materials used in fashion accessories and new types of skin are becoming trendy, such as: Water Snakes which most have NO CITES status.
These type of water snakes such as Ayers, are found in tropical areas of South and Southeast Asia. Even though they don't tend to bite, don't take if for granted. There has been cases where they strike like a viper and could be dangerous to others, even humans.
After reading this article, you now know in more about the different types of leather used for the elaboration of handbags and other fashion articles.
In addition, there are many people disagreeing with the use of animal skin to elaborate complements and accessories and there are now many substitutes to leather, such as synthetic skin - which has different characteristics however with a similar appearance to leather.
