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Terms in General Use In the Leather Industry     Part 2

Gasket Leather – See “Hydraulic Leathers.”

Glazed Finish – A leather with polished surface produced by heavy pressure of a roller of agate, glass, metal or other suitable material on a selected finish formulation.

Glazed (Glace) Kid – Chrome tanned goatskin and kidskin leather, in either black or colors, which has a glazed finish.

Glove Leather – Term covering two distinct classes: (1) the leather used for dress gloves, including those for street, riding, driving, and sportswear. Tanned predominantly from sheep and lambskins and to a lesser degree from deer, pig, goat, kid and Mocha skins; and (2) the leather used for utilitarian or work gloves and made of a variety of hides and skins, of which the most important are horsehides, cattlehide splits, calfskins, sheepskins, and pigskins.

Glove Splits – Split chrome tanned cattlehide leather used for work gloves.

Goatskin – The skin of a mature goat or leather made therefrom; also referred to as “kid”.

Grain – Term refers to the outer or hair side of a hide or skin. It also refers to the pattern of the outer surface after the hair or wool and epidermal tissue have been removed.

Grained Leather – Any leather on which the original, natural grain has been highlighted by a finishing process.

Gun Metal – Leather the shade of gun metal, usually with a dull finish.

Gusset Leather – A soft flexible leather used for gussets in shoes, bags, and cases.

Hair Calf – See “Slunk.”

Hair-On Leather – Leather tanned without removing the hair from the skin or hide.

Hand Buffs – A term used to describe upholstery leather in which the top grain has been lightly buffed to remove the top of the hair follicles.

Harness Leather – A self-explanatory term which sometimes includes collar and saddlery leathers. Harness leather, including these related items, is practically all made of vegetable tanned cattlehides, except for a considerable quantity of pigskin used for making saddle seats.

Hat Leather – Sheepskin or calf leather, usually vegetable tanned, used for the sweat bands of hats or caps.

Head – Term applied to that part of the hide which is cut off at the flare into the shoulder.

Heavy Leather – A somewhat indefinite term, generally understood to include vegetable tanned sole, belting, strap, and mechanical leathers made from unsplit cattlehides.

Hide – As used in the leather industry, it refers to a whole pelt from one of the larger animals (cattle, horse, etc.), in contrast to the term “skin,” which refers to the pelt of young or small animals.

Hide Grades – Standard hide grades, take-up and delivery practice are given in the booklet, “Trade Practices for Proper Packer Cattlehide Delivery,” published by Leather Industries of America Inc., 1000 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W., Suite 515, Washington, D.C. 20007; (202) 342-8086.

Horsehide – Designates leather made from the hide of either horses or colts.

Hydraulic Leathers – A collective term sometimes used for the cattlehide leathers, vegetable, chrome or combination tannages, special stuffing being provided, which are employed in pump valves, as piston packings, and in other machinery.

Imitation Leather – Materials so made and finished as to resemble leather. Included are coated fabrics, rubber and rubber compositions, and plastic materials. Terms connoting genuine leather should not be used in trade names, as for example “plastic calf”, “plastic leather,” “compoleather,” “leatherlyke,” or “leatherette.”

In the Pickle – Term used to describe skins from which the hair or wool has been removed and which are preserved in a condition ready for tanning usually in a wet state with brine, acid and sometimes polymer phosphates.

In the Rough; In the Crust; In the White; In the Blue; In the Pearl – A group of approximately equivalent terms used to describe leather which has been tanned, but not finished. “in the rough’ or “rough tanned” and “in the crust” are most commonly applied to vegetable tanned cattlehide leathers; “in the white” is applied to alum, or formaldehyde-tanned sheepskins and lambskins; “in the blue” to chrome-tanned skins; “in the pearl” is chrome-tanned leather dried in the blue to a crust from which either white, black, or colored leather will be made.

Iron – Term used for measuring thickness or sole leather; 1 iron equals 1/48th of an inch.

Kangaroo Leather – Leather made from the hide of the Australian kangaroo or wallaby, usually chrome tanned with a glazed finish. Resembles glazed kid in appearance, but the grain of kangaroo is much finer than most glazed kid. It is stronger, weight for weight, than any other leather.

Kid – Leather made from the skin of a young goat. Also used in glove and shoe industries to refer to leather made from any goatskin.

Kip or Kipskin – Skin from an animal of the bovine species between the size of a calf and a mature animal. This term includes skins from calves which have grown larger than the size usually slaughtered for veal.

Kosher Hide – Hide of an animal which has been slaughtered according to Jewish religious custom by having its throat cut cross-wise; resulting in a different pattern of the hide sometimes referred to as a “cut-throat” or “stuck-throat.”

Lace Leather – A form of rawhide leather (from cattlehides) for lacing together sections of power transmission belts; sometimes prepared also with an alum and oil, chrome, or combination tannage.

Lambskin Leather – Describes leather made from either lamb or sheepskins, inasmuch as the skins are identical in appearance after tanning.

Larrigan Leather – Name for oil tanned light hides, used largely for moccasins.

Latigo Leather – Cattlehide leather, sometimes alum and vegetable tanned, used for cinches, ties, saddle strings and other saddlery work and for army accoutrements.

Leather – A general term for hide or skin with its original fibrous structure more or less intact, tanned or treated to be imputrescible. The hair or wool may or may not have been removed. Leather is also made from a hide or skin which has been split into layers or segmented before or after tanning, but if the tanned hide or skin is disintegrated mechanically and/or chemically into fibrous particles, small pieces or powders and then, with or without the combination of a binding agent, is made into sheets or forms, such sheets or forms are not leather. Leathers may have surface coatings of a reasonable amount but beyond this the resulting product shall be described as a laminate or composite. However, the term laminated leather should not be used if the leather content is less than two-thirds of the total thickness.

Levant - Leather from goat, sheep and seal skins with a characteristic shrunken grain pattern produced in tannage. Leather with a similar pattern produced y embossing should be called “Levant-grain.”

Lining Leather – Any leather used for making shoe linings, which includes sheep, kid, goat, cattle, calf, kip and splits.

Loading – The process of adding glucose, magnesium sulfate, or other materials to condition vegetable tanned leather for working in modern shoe machinery. Also known as “filling.”

Machine Buff – That cut of the hide from which a buffing of approximately 1/64th of an inch (1 ounce) in thickness has been removed from the grain. This should leave a portion of the grain on approximately the entire hide.

Manufacturer’s Leather – See “Factory Sole Leather.”

Mat Finish – A smooth dull finish applied to chrome tanned leather for shoe uppers, handbags, belts, etc.

Matadero Hides – Hides from Argentina corresponding to a city butcher or smaller packer hides of the United States.

Mechanical Leathers – A collective term for many types of leather used in connection with machinery and textile equipment. Such specialty leathers are explained more definitely under specific designations or uses.

Medium Buffs – Formerly referred to as “Special Machine Buffs.” See “Upholstery Leather.”

Mineral Tannage – Leather produced by the use of chromium salts, alum, and other like mineral agents as distinguished from “vegetable tannages.”

Mocha Leather – A leather made from any variety of hair sheep. After the grain has been removed by a liming process known as “frizing,” the fine fibers below the grain are sueded. See “Suede Finish.” It is one of the finest of nap finished glove leathers.

Mocha Suede- Arabian blackhead hair sheepskins (commonly called blackhead Mochas), chrome tanned, grain removed by mechanical abrading rather than by hand frizing, suede finished on flesh side. This leather retains most of the characteristics of the frized skin, particularly fineness of finish, due to closeness of fibers of the skin; is washable and wears well.

Morocco Leather – Vegetable tanned fancy goatskins having a distinctive grain produced by boarding or graining. Embossed imitation of the natural goat grain on other kinds of leather sometimes is called Morocco grained.

Mouton – A sheepskin shearling tanned and further finished for fur.

Nap Finish – A process in which the natural grain layer of the leather is removed and the outer surface of the leather is then given a napped finish. See also “Suede Finish.”

Napa Leather – Chrome, alum or combination tanned grain sheep or lambskin glove leather, drum colored.

Native Hides – Hides from steers, cows or bulls which are free of brand marks.

Oak Tanned Leather – Common usage is any tannage of heavy leather with vegetable extract. The term originated with leather tanned using the bark of the oak tree.

Offal – Part of the hides and skins not normally used for making the finest grades of leather. The work in this sense does not mean waste because, in the heavy leather field, it refers to heads, shoulders and bellies to differentiate them from the more valuable bends. These parts are also finished into serviceable leather for shoe uppers, gloves and other items.

Oil Tannage – The process of tanning with animal oils, which is used in the manufacture of certain soft leathers, particularly chamois, and certain kinds of buckskins. Fish oil is generally used.

Oiling Off – Coating the surface of wet leather with oil before allowing it to dry.

Orthopedic Leathers – A general term for the types of leather used in the manufacture of artificial limbs, braces, etc., for orthopedic purposes. The leathers may range from chamois and horsehide glove to case and strap leathers.

Ounce – Term used to indicate weight or substance of certain kinds of leathers (such as upper, upholstery and bag and case leather ). In theory it is based upon the assumption that one square foot of leather will weigh a certain number of ounces and will uniformly be of a certain thickness; hence, a three-ounce leather theoretically would be one square foot of leather weighing three ounces. In practice, this varies because of specific gravity of various materials used, and for that reason a splitter’s gauge has been adopted which controls the commercial thickness of leather when sold by the square foot. An ounce is equivalent to 1/64th (.0156) of an inch in thickness.

Packing Leather – See “Hydraulic Leather .”

Parchment – Dried, dewooled sheepskins. Vellum is practically the same as parchment except is made from calfskins. In addition to its use as “parchment” for diplomas and records, it is also utilized for banjo and drum heads, lamp shades, etc. See also “Rawhide.”

Patent Leather – Leather with a finish which is mirror-like, flexible and waterproof. Term also refers to leather of this appearance made by film lamination.

Patent Plastic – See “Plastic Patent.”

Pebbled Grain – An embossed-leather grain finish resembling a pebbled surface, ranging from fine pebbled Morocco goat to heavy scotch grain upper leather.

Peccary – A very durable leather made from a species of wild boar, native to Mexico, some Central American countries, Brazil and the Argentine. Fine grained and capable of being shaved down to light weight, it is highly desirable for ladies’ fine dress and sport gloves. It is generally chrome tanned, and washable.

Piano Leathers – A name covering highly specialized leathers used for various purposes in the manufacture of pianos, both manual and mechanical. The leathers are made of selected skivers, full-grain sheepskins or deerskins.

Picker Leather – Various types are used in textile mills. This leather may be very soft, mellow and tough, heavily stuffed, steerhides, like comber and gill box apron leather. Picker straps are sometimes made from a glycerine tanned rawhide, which is a strong and pliable leather. For loop pickers a belting leather is generally used and for heavy-duty pickers a hard rawhide, usually made from buffalo hides.

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