New Skin

Today, I am going to talk about a very controversial topic and that is using the skin of animals (To make things simple, I avoid feathers and fur/hair). Now, most people are familiar with cow leather. Most people are also aware of crocodilian skin products. More fashion-conscious people are familiar with lamb or even goat skin. Football fans are aware of the kangaroo-skin boots. But just how many types of animal skin products are then in the market? 

Let's start with the farmed animals. There is pig skin which is known to masquerade as cow leather (To the unhappiness of Muslim people). There is horsehide which apparently does not masquerade as cow leather even though horse meat was ever been sold as beef. There is Bison hide if you stay in America. The people in Asia have the water buffalo hide which is not so popular (There is also Yak hide which is considered inferior to cow leather so few people except their herders use it. To make it similar to other leather, Yak hide needs more processing which makes it costlier.). One thing I need to inform people. Although the cow is sacred in places like India and Nepal, the water buffalo is considered as a livestock. Finally, people in the Middle East and Africa have camels which also produce useful hide.

   

When we talk about leather, one might think that birds are not included. You couldn't be more mistaken. There are flightless birds like Emu and Ostrich. These birds are farmed for their meat but their skins are a useful byproduct. There are also chicken, duck and turkey leather. The leather from the poultry is taken from their feet, not their body. 

Now, why would I be interested in animal hide? To be fair, I have little interest in them except their man made counterparts have a distressing tendency to fall after prolong usage or exposure to the sun. Moreover, as plastic is rather cheap, some products are poorly made in order to keep cost down. However, if there is one thing to know is that there is no perfect animal hide. Some are more durable, others are waterproof. Some are stiffer, others are more supple.