Leathercraft is one of the oldest crafts people practice. Humans have worked animal hides for tens of thousands of years, and the methods for turning a hide into a stable, flexible material have changed over that time. This article follows the craft from its earliest traces through the ancient, medieval, and modern periods, and it points to more detailed articles for each stage.
Dates here are ranges where the evidence is uncertain. Where sources disagree, we say so.
What leather is, and where it comes from
Leather is animal hide or skin that has been tanned. Tanning stabilizes the material so it does not rot and stays flexible. Hides come from large animals such as cattle and horses, and skins come from smaller animals such as calves, goats, and sheep. Cattle are the most common source today, but leather has also been made from deer, sheep, goats, horses, and many other animals.
Untanned hide, such as rawhide, is not leather. Neither are parchment and vellum, which are untanned as well. The leather making terms glossary explains these distinctions in detail.
The first leather: hides, tools, and clothing
People were working hides long before anyone wrote about them, and the earliest evidence is indirect. Stone tools with signs of use on hides suggest that scraping began hundreds of thousands of years ago, but the exact date is uncertain.
More specific evidence comes from bone tools. At Contrebandiers Cave in Morocco, researchers have found hide-working tools roughly 90,000 to 120,000 years old. Neanderthal bone smoothers from France, known as lissoirs, are roughly 41,000 to 51,000 years old. Eyed bone needles are widespread from about 40,000 years ago, which shows that people were stitching hides to make clothing and shelter.
For the reasoning behind these dates and why they are given as ranges, see when did people first start using leather.
Early shoes and tombs
Leather rarely survives, so the oldest surviving objects are much more recent than the first tools. The Areni-1 shoe, found in Armenia, is a piece of cowhide laced over the foot. It dates to about 3500 BCE and is the oldest known leather shoe.
Ötzi the Iceman, who lived around 3300 BCE, was found in the Alps wearing leather shoes, leggings, a coat, and a loincloth, and carrying a quiver. His shoes had bearskin soles and deer-hide uppers.
In ancient Egypt, leatherworkers appear in the tomb of Rekhmire, dating to about 1450 BCE. The scenes show soaking, stretching, cutting, and sewing, and they include the half-moon knife. Most Egyptian sandals were plant fiber rather than leather, and leather was used mainly for military gear, chariot harness, and elite goods. Leather in ancient Egypt covers these uses in detail.
Rome, the military, and the Middle Ages
The Roman army used vegetable-tanned leather for footwear called caligae, as well as for tents and shields. The fort of Vindolanda on Hadrian’s Wall has yielded a large number of leather shoes.
In medieval Europe, leather goods were made in towns by guilds of tanners, cordwainers, and saddlers. Vegetable tanning used oak bark in pits, and heavy sole leather could take 12 to 18 months or longer. Two names from this era are still in use. Cordovan takes its name from Córdoba in Spain, which was known for fine goatskin leather, and the word cordwainer comes from the same source. London guild charters from the 1400s include the Cordwainers (1439) and the Leathersellers (1444).
Tanning and currying became separate trades, and English law formally split them in 1604. Medieval leatherworking techniques covers how each step worked, and what leather makers are called explains the trade names.
Bookbinding, gloves, and luxury leather
Leather’s strength and flexibility made it useful for luxury goods as well as for working gear. Bookbinders covered wooden boards with leather and decorated the covers with blind tooling, which is pressed without gold. Gold tooling reached Europe in the late 15th century, through Italy.
Decorated caskets from the 14th and 15th centuries show carved and worked leather. Cuir bouilli, a hardened leather, was used for cases, bottles, scabbards, and some pieces of armor.
Chrome tanning and the industrial era
Chrome tanning changed leather production. Friedrich Knapp described the process in 1858, and patents by Augustus Schultz (1884) and Martin Dennis (1893) followed. Chrome tanning takes about a day, compared with weeks or months for vegetable tanning. Today roughly 80 to 85 percent of the world’s leather is chrome tanned, though estimates vary.
Other machines changed the trade too. Goodyear welt machinery, developed in the 1870s, mechanized shoemaking. Mechanization made leather cheaper and more widely available. Vegetable tanning survives in places such as Tuscany, Italy, where it remains important for high-end and tooled leather.
Leather in the 20th century: aviation, motorcycles, and hobby craft
Leather moved into new uses in the 20th century. Flying jackets for aviators became standard military issue in the 1920s and 1930s, and motorcycle jackets followed. The history of the leather jacket covers how these garments became a fashion staple.
Hobby leathercraft grew alongside these changes. Tandy Leather was founded in Fort Worth in 1919. After World War II, the company turned to hobby kits, which were also used in veterans’ hospital therapy. The author Al Stohlman wrote dozens of instructional books, which are still recommended to learners. In Sheridan, Wyoming, a floral carving style is linked to the saddlemaker Don King. Who are some famous leather workers profiles these people and others.
Leather as identity and subculture
Leather also became part of identity for some communities. After World War II, motorcycle clubs and the leather look gave some gay men a way to express masculinity and find one another. The Gold Coast, a bar in Chicago that opened in 1958, is often cited as the first leather bar of its kind.
What does leather mean in LGBTQ? explains the subculture in more depth, including its events and the Leather Pride Flag.
Who made leather, then and now
The people who worked with leather had names that described their jobs. Tanners turned hides into leather, curriers finished it, cordwainers made new shoes, and saddlers made saddles. Those names survive as surnames and as the names of London livery companies. Modern makers usually call themselves leatherworkers, leather crafters, or artisans.
Modern work uses traditional and newer methods side by side. Vegetable tanning, hand tooling, and hand stitching continue, and some makers also use computer-aided design and laser cutting. The terms used across these methods are defined in the leather making terms glossary.
Common misconceptions about leather history
- Ancient Egyptians did not invent leather. Hide use is tens of thousands of years older than Egyptian civilization.
- Chrome tanning is a 19th-century process, not an ancient or medieval one.
- Medieval leather was not chrome tanned.
- Rawhide, parchment, and vellum are untanned, so they are not leather.
- “Studded leather armor” is mostly a modern idea. The extent of leather armor in medieval Europe is debated.
- Alum tawing is not true tanning. Tawed leather can revert if it is soaked.
- Turnshoes had soles. They were thin and replaceable, not soleless.