The hides or skins used to make leather are by-products from the meat industry and come from animals that were reared for meat, milk and wool. Hides refer to large bovine animals, such as cows, whereas skins usually refers to smaller animals, typically sheep, goats and deer. The distinction is the 1 metre height of the animal at the time of slaughter, with the exception of calves, who are referred to as calf skins.

There are a lot of agenda organisations which argue that the leather industry drives animal rearing, but this simply isn’t true. Hides and skins are definitely by-products. According to the FAO, meat production generates about 11.6 million tonnes per year of hides and skins. If these were not used to make leather, they would just be thrown away. Furthermore, the leather that wasn’t made would be replaced with other materials, most of which would probably be plastic.

At the global level, a hide is currently worth between 1-2% of the value of the whole animal when slaughtered – this excludes the value of any dairy products, which are worth a lot more in total. Clearly, no one is rearing cattle for 1% of the animal. Furthermore, up to 40% of the hides produced each year are lost or thrown away. This is an issue in places like Africa where the infrastructure may be lacking but is also true in developed, mature industries such as the USA, which is one of the biggest beef and hide producers in the world. In 2020, 14.5% of US of hides were thrown away and was 18% in 2019, so these losses are not due to Covid-19. If the hide were not a by-product, this wouldn’t happen. Incidentally, this did not cause any issues for the meat industry, which continues to grow.

The situation for skins is even worse. In the UK we produce about 14 million sheepskin per year. Many of these have no value and the abattoirs have to pay to have them taken away for disposal.

Leather furniture in a normal domestic environment requires little maintenance although obviously leather in lighter shades will need more attention. Regular care of leather does ensure its lasting quality and some general rules for regular cleaning and maintenance are to clean the leather with a soft damp cloth taking care not to soak the leather. For more thorough treatment, the leather should be cleaned using a light soapy solution applied to the surface of the leather in circular motions until the dirty parts are clean. Repeat this process using clean water only. Do not use saddle soap, wax polishes or spray polishes. Do not use any product or any method of cleaning not recommended by the manufacturer.

Tanning is the chemical process that stabilizes the hide thermically, mechanically, chemically and microbiologically. Only a few chemicals have tanning properties. They are safe and non toxic when used correctly. Click here to find out more.