The History of Leather

Primitive people hunted wild animals for food, stripping the hides from their carcasses and using them as crude tents, clothing, and shoes. The earliest recorded use of leather dates back to the Paleolithic period, with cave paintings found in caves near Lleida, Spain, depicting leather clothing. Excavations at Paleolithic sites have revealed bone tools used to scrape hides, as well as hides used to remove hair.

Hides quickly decayed, becoming useless, necessitating a method of preservation. The earliest method involved laying the hides out on the ground to dry, rubbing them with fat and animal brains while they dried.

Much later, people discovered a method of using earth salt containing alum as a tanning agent to produce soft, white leather. Alum leather can be dyed with naturally occurring dyes from various plants.

Murals and artifacts in Egyptian tombs show leather used to make sandals, clothing, gloves, buckets, bottles, burial shrouds, and military equipment. The ancient Greeks and Romans also made extensive use of leather, and it has remained an important industrial raw material ever since.

Leather manufacturing was introduced to Britain by the invading Romans and religious orders, whose monks were skilled in working leather, particularly vellum and parchment for writing.