Ballet shoe

A ballet shoe, or ballet slipper, is a lightweight shoe designed specifically for balletdancing. It may be made from soft leather, canvas, or satin, and has flexible, thin soles. Traditionally, women wear pink shoes and men wear white or black shoes. Tan colored slippers—which are unobtrusive and thus give the appearance of dancing barefoot—are worn in modern ballets and sometimes modern dancing by both men and women.

All ballet dancers wear soft ballet slippers for the main part of the ballet class. More advanced female dancers may change into pointe shoes for centre work and performance.

Ballet shoes must fit very closely to the foot, for safety and to retain maximum flexibility.

Leather ballet shoes, with feet shown in fifth position.

Construction[edit]

Ballet shoes traditionally have a leather sole which does not reach all the way to the edges of the shoe. A modern development is the split sole, which provides greater flexibility and emphasises the shape of the foot when pointed. They are usually made from soft leather, canvas or satin. Leather shoes are long-lasting. Canvas shoes are less expensive but wear faster than average leather ballet shoes. Satin shoes are worn only for performance as they wear out very quickly.

Shoes are secured with the use of elastic, most often with a single band across the arch of the foot, or with two bands that cross in an "X" shape at the top of the arch. In the case of double band shoes, some ballet slipper manufacturers will attach one end of each band to the shoe as part of the production process, and leave it to the purchaser to attach the free ends of the bands for optimal fit.

History[edit]

Women began to dance ballet in 1682, twenty years after King Louis XIV of France ordered the founding of the Royal Academy of Dance. At that time, the standard women's ballet shoe had heels. Mid 18th century dancer Marie Camargo of the Paris Opéra Balletwas the first to wear a non-heeled shoe. After the French Revolution, heels were completely eliminated from standard ballet shoes, as they still are.

Pointe shoe

A pointe shoe is a type of shoe worn by ballet dancers when performing pointe work. Pointe shoes developed from the desire for dancers to appear weightless and sylph-like and have evolved to enable dancers to dance en pointe (on the tips of their toes) for extended periods of time. They are normally worn by female dancers, though male dancers may wear them for unorthodox roles such as the ugly stepsisters in Cinderella, Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, or men performing as women in dance companies such as Les Ballets Trockaderoand Grandiva. They are manufactured in a variety of colors, most commonly in shades of light pink.

Modern pointe shoes. The edge of the toe pad, which is inserted between the foot and toe box for cushioning, can be seen on the right foot.

History of pointe shoes[edit]

Marie Taglioni in the title role of La Sylphide, a ballet danced en pointe for the full length of the work.

Women began to dance ballet in 1681, twenty years after King Louis XIV of France ordered the founding of the Académie Royale de Danse. At that time, the standard women's ballet shoe had heels. Mid-18th century dancer Marie Camargo of the Paris Opéra Ballet was the first to wear a non-heeled shoe, enabling her to perform leaps that would have been difficult, if not impossible, in the more conventional shoes of the age. After the French Revolution, heels were completely eliminated from standard ballet shoes. These flat-bottomed predecessors of the modern pointe shoe were secured to the feet by ribbons and incorporated pleats under the toes to enable dancers to leap, execute turns, and fully extend their feet.

The first dancers to rise up on their toes did so with the help of an invention by Charles Didelot in 1795. His "flying machine" lifted dancers upward, allowing them to stand on their toes before leaving the ground. This lightness and ethereal quality was well received by audiences and, as a result,choreographers began to look for ways to incorporate more pointework into their pieces.

As dance progressed into the 19th century, the emphasis on technical skill increased, as did the desire to dance en pointe without the aid of wires. When Marie Taglioni first danced La Sylphide en pointe, her shoes were nothing more than modified satin slippers; the soles were made of leather and the sides and toes were darned to help the shoes hold their shapes. Because the shoes of this period offered no support, dancers would pad their toes for comfort and rely on the strength of their feet and ankles for support.

The next substantially different form of pointe shoe appeared in Italy in the late 19th century. Dancers like Pierina Legnani wore shoes with a sturdy, flat platform at the front end of the shoe, rather than the more sharply pointed toe of earlier models. These shoes also included a box—made of layers of fabric—for containing the toes, and a stiffer, stronger sole. They were constructed without nails and the soles were only stiffened at the toes, making them nearly silent.

The birth of the modern pointe shoe is often attributed to the early 20th century Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, who was one of the most famous and influential dancers of her time. Pavlova had particularly high, arched insteps, which left her vulnerable to injury when dancing en pointe. She also had slender, tapered feet, resulting in excessive pressure applied to her big toes. To compensate for this, she inserted toughened leather soles into her shoes for extra support and flattened and hardened the toe area to form a box.

Construction[edit]

Parts of a pointe shoe.

Every dancer has unique feet, with variations that include toe length and shape, archflexibility, and mechanical strength. Consequently, most pointe shoe manufacturers produce more than one model of shoe, with each model offering a different fit, as well as custom fitted shoes. Regardless of the manufacturer or model, however, all pointe shoes share two important structural features that enable dancers to dance on the tips of their toes:

• A box within the front end of the shoe that encases and supports the dancer's toes.
• A shank, which is a piece of rigid material that serves to stiffen the sole so as to provide support for the arch of the en pointe foot.

The exterior of a pointe shoe is covered with fabric, thus concealing the box and other internal structural elements and lending an aesthetically pleasing look to the shoe. Most pointe shoes are covered with satin, but some are available with canvas exteriors. Pointe shoes are most often available in light pink colors and less commonly in black and white. Pointe shoes can often be ordered in other custom colors.

The vamp refers to the shoe's upper, measured from the platform to the drawstring; normally, longer toes call for a longer vamp. Thethroat is the edge of the vamp above the arch of the foot; it is usually either v-shaped or round. The drawstring is located within the binding on the throat; this may be made from either elastic or lace.

Box[edit]

A pointe shoe's tightly stretched satin exterior exposes the shape of its underlying toe box.

The box is a hard enclosure within the front end of the shoe that encases and supports the dancer's toes.^[1] The front end of the box is flattened so as to form a platform upon which the dancer can balance, and fabric covers the exterior of the box for æsthetics.

In conventional pointe shoes, the box is typically made from tightly packed layers of paper and fabric that have been glued together and then shaped into an enclosure.^[1] When the glue dries, it becomes hard and provides the required stiffness. In some newer pointe shoes, the box may be made from plastic and rubber, with rigidity provided by the plastic.^[1]

Sole[edit]

The sole is thin and covers only part of the bottom of the pointe shoe so as to remain inconspicuous.

In most pointe shoes, the sole is constructed from a single piece of leather that is attached to the shoe with adhesive and reinforced by stitching along its edges.^[1] The sole overlaps and secures the unfinished edges of the shoe's exterior fabric. Pointe shoes may be manufactured with either scraped soles, which provide superior traction, or buffed soles, which have a smoother surface for reduced traction.

Aesthetic appearance is of paramount importance for modern pointe shoes. To achieve an elegant appearance, the shoe's more decorative outer fabric is prominently featured, covering the maximum possible area of the shoe's visible surfaces. To this end, the sole is made of thin material to give it a minimal profile, and a margin of satin is artfully pleated around it so that the sole covers only part of the bottom of the shoe.

Shank[edit]

The shank is covered by thin fabric, which in turn directly contacts the bottom of the dancer's foot.

Shanks are typically made from leather, plastic,cardstock, or layers of glue-hardened burlap. The flexibility of a shank is determined by its thickness and the type of material used. A shank's thickness may be consistent throughout or it may vary along its length to produce different strengths at select points. For example, slits may be cut across a shank at demi-pointe to enhance roll through. Also, a shank's thickness may transition at some point along its length in order to implement differing strengths above and below the transition. Standard pointe shoes typically have a full shank, in which the shank runs the full length of the sole, or fractional (e.g., half or three-quarter) length shanks. Many pointe shoe manufacturers offer a choice of shank materials, and some will build shoes with customized shanks of varying stiffness and length.

Dancers will sometimes wear different pointe shoe models for different performance pieces. In such cases, the choreography often dictates the type of shank required; a lyrical style may call for a softer shoe, while an aggressive style with many turns is more easily performed in a hard, stiff shoe.

Ribbons and elastic band[edit]

Ribbons and elastic band used to secure a pointe shoe to the foot.

A pointe shoe employs two fabric ribbons and an elastic band to secure it to the foot. Most of the work of securing shoes to feet is done by the ribbons. The two ribbons wrap around the dancer's ankle in opposite directions, overlapping one another so as to form a cross at the front. The ends are then tied together in a knot, which is then tucked under the ribbon on the inside of the ankle to hide it from view. The elastic band—which traverses the front of the ankle below the ribbons—keeps the heel of the shoe in place against the foot when the dancer is en pointe.

The locations where the band and ribbons attach to a shoe is critical, as incorrect placement can result in a poorly fitting shoe.^[2] Optimal placement depends on the physical attributes of the foot to which it will be mated, and consequently the ribbons and elastic bands cannot be attached during the shoe manufacturing process. After acquiring a new pair of pointe shoes, a dancer must determine the appropriate attachment locations for the ribbons and elastic bands and then sew them, or arrange for them to be sewn, onto the shoes.

Demi-pointe shoe[edit]

A demi-pointe shoe, which is also variously called a break-down, pre-pointe, or a soft-block shoe, shares many characteristics with pointe shoes. For example its outer appearance resembles that of a pointe shoe and it has a toe box, although the box is softer and the wings (sides of the toe box) are typically not as deep as those found on pointe shoes. Demi-pointe shoes are secured to the feet with ribbons and elastic band in identical fashion to pointe shoes. Unlike pointe shoes, however, demi-pointe shoes have no shank and, as a result, they do not provide the support necessary for proper pointe work.

Demi-pointe shoes are most often used to train dancers who are new to pointe technique. They serve to acclimate dancers to the feel of wearing pointe shoes and to strengthen the ankles and feet in preparation for dancing on pointe in pointe shoes. The toe box allows the dancer to experience the feel of a pointe shoe, while the insole and outsole work together to provide the resistance needed for developing foot and ankle strength.

Manufacturing process[edit]

Some parts of the pointe shoe manufacturing process^[which?] are typically automated, though most of the shaping work^[clarify] is done by hand.

"Turnshoe" method

Traditional pointe shoes are usually manufactured using a method known as turnshoe, in which each shoe is initially assembled inside-out on a last and then turned right-side-out before finishing.^[3] When manufacturing standard pointe shoes, a standardized, common last is used for both left and right shoes, resulting in identical left and right shoes in a pair. Some ballerinas have custom-made lasts that replicate the shapes of their own feet; these may be supplied to a pointe shoe manufacturer for the purpose of manufacturing custom shoes.

Breaking in[edit]

Dancers break in, or soften, new pointe shoes in order to improve their fit and thus eliminate the discomfort caused by new shoes. Various methods are employed for breaking in new pointe shoes including deforming them against hard surfaces, striking them with blunt objects, wetting the toe boxes and then wearing them, and heating them to soften the glues, but these methods may shorten a pointe shoe's usable lifetime.

Accessories[edit]

A dancer may experience discomfort while wearing a pointe shoe even after the shoe has been broken in. Several devices are commonly used to mitigate the discomfort:

• Toe pads are pouches that encapsulate and cushion the toes from the unyielding box and prevent friction that can cause blistering. These are typically made from thin, fabric-covered gel sheets.
• Gel toe spacers of various shapes and sizes are inserted between toes; these serve to adjust toe spacing and alignment so as to alleviate pain at the bunion joint between the big toe and first toe.
• Lambswool is stretched and wrapped around toes to reduce chafing and the likelihood of blisters. After several uses, the lambswool becomes densely packed and custom fitted to the dancer's foot.
• Tape is wrapped around toes to reduce chafing and blisters.

Toe pads

Toe spacers

Lifetime[edit]

In the course of normal use, there are three predominant types of wear on a pointe shoe that will determine its useful lifetime. The most important of these is shank wear. As the body of the shoe is repetitively flexed, the shank gradually weakens and loses its ability to provide support. A pointe shoe is no longer serviceable when the shank breaks or becomes too soft to provide support. The second is the softening of the box and especially the platform on which the dancer balances.

The other primary type of wear involves the exterior fabric. In pointework, the front face and bottom edge of the toe box are subjected to friction against the performance surface. This friction will eventually wear through the shoe's outer fabric covering, thereby exposing the toe box and creating loose, frayed fabric edges. Unlike a weakened shank, damaged outer fabric does not affect the performance of a shoe. Due to its unprofessional appearance, however, damaged fabric may render the shoe unfit to wear in situations other than informal practice or rehearsal.

Typical pointe shoe wear, in which the fabric has worn through to expose the box.

Under moderate usage, a pair of pointe shoes will typically last through ten to twenty hours of wear. For dance students, this often translates into weeks or months of serviceable use from a pair of pointe shoes. Professional dancers typically wear out pointe shoes much more quickly; a new pair may wear out in a single performance. As a result, most professional ballet companies provide shoe allowances for their dancers to defray the cost of frequent shoe replacement.

The lifetime of a pointe shoe depends on many factors, including:

• Usage. More aggressive dance styles and more frequent, longer durations of use will hasten wear.
• Dance technique. Improper technique subjects shoes to unusual stresses that may lead to premature failure.
• Fit. Well fitting pointe shoes encourage proper technique, which in turn leads to longer shoe life.
• Weight. Greater dancer weight exerts proportionally greater stresses to the shoes, leading to faster wear.
• Construction. Varying qualities and types of construction will yield different life expectancies.
• Shank material. The stiffness and integrity of various shank materials will degrade at varying rates.
• Breaking-in. The breaking-in process simulates accelerated wear, and thus may shorten the life of a shoe.
• Performance surface. Rough surfaces cause rapid wear of the exterior fabric, in contrast to smooth surfaces such as Marley floors, which minimize the rate of fabric wear.

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created by the tanning of animal rawhide and skin, often cattle hide. It can be produced through manufacturing processes ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.

Modern leather-working tools

Forms[edit]

Several tanning processes transform hides and skins into leather:

• Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned using tannins and other ingredients found in different vegetable matter, such as tree barkprepared in bark mills, wood, leaves, fruits and roots and other similar sources. It is supple and brown in color, with the exact shade depending on the mix of chemicals and the color of the skin. It is the only form of leather suitable for use in leather carving or stamping. Vegetable-tanned leather is not stable in water; it tends to discolor, so if left to soak and then dry it will shrink and become less supple, and harder. In hot water, it will shrink drastically and partly gelatinize, becoming rigid and eventually brittle.Boiled leather is an example of this, where the leather has been hardened by being immersed in hot water, or in boiled wax or similar substances. Historically, it was occasionally used as armor after hardening, and it has also been used for book binding. Vegetable tanned leathers present unique, recognisable and natural characteristics while respecting the environment, thanks to the heritage of expert craftsman and the use of old traditional recipes, new technologies and natural tannins.^[1]
• Chrome-tanned leather, invented in 1858, is tanned using chromium sulfate and other salts of chromium. It is more supple and pliable than vegetable-tanned leather and does not discolor or lose shape as drastically in water as vegetable-tanned. It is also known as wet-blue for its color derived from the chromium. More esoteric colors are possible using chrome tanning.
• Aldehyde-tanned leather is tanned using glutaraldehyde or oxazolidine compounds. This is the leather that most tanners refer to as wet-white leather due to its pale cream or white color. It is the main type of "chrome-free" leather, often seen in automobiles and shoes for infants.
  • Formaldehyde tanning (being phased out due to its danger to workers and the sensitivity of many people to formaldehyde) is another method of aldehyde tanning. Brain-tanned leathers fall into this category and are exceptionally water absorbent.
    • Brain tanned leathers are made by a labor-intensive process which uses emulsified oils, often those of animal brains. They are known for their exceptional softness and their ability to be washed.
  • Chamois leather also falls into the category of aldehyde tanning and, like brain tanning, produces a highly water-absorbent leather. Chamois leather is made by using oils (traditionally cod oil) that oxidize easily to produce the aldehydes that tan the leather to make the fabric the color it is.
  • Rose tanned leather is a variation of vegetable oil tanning and brain tanning, where pure rose otto replaces the vegetable oil and emulsified oils. It has been called the most valuable leather on earth, but this is mostly due to the high cost of rose otto and its labor-intensive tanning process.

• Synthetic-tanned leather is tanned using aromatic polymers such as the Novolac or Neradol types (syntans, contraction forsynthetic tannins). This leather is white in color and was invented when vegetable tannins were in short supply during the Second World War. Melamine and other amino-functional resins fall into this category as well, and they provide the filling that modern leathers often require. Urea-formaldehyde resins were also used in this tanning method until dissatisfaction about the formation of free formaldehyde was realized.
• Alum-tawed leather is transformed using aluminium salts mixed with a variety of binders and protein sources, such as flour and egg yolk. Alum-tawed leather is technically not tanned, as tannic acid is not used, and the resulting material will revert to rawhide if soaked in water long enough to remove the alum salts. Very light shades of leather are possible using this process, but the resulting material is not as supple as vegetable-tanned leather.^[2]
• Rawhide is made by scraping the skin thin, soaking it in lime, and then stretching it while it dries. Like alum-tawing, rawhide is not technically "leather"^{[citation needed]}, but is usually lumped in with the other forms. Rawhide is stiffer and more brittle than other forms of leather; it's primarily found in uses such as drum heads and parchment where it does not need to flex significantly; it is also cut up into cords for use in lacing or stitching and for making many varieties of dog chews.

Leather—usually vegetable-tanned—can be oiled to improve its water resistance. This supplements the natural oils remaining in the leather itself, which can be washed out through repeated exposure to water. Frequent oiling of leather, with mink oil, neatsfoot oil, or a similar material keeps it supple and improves its lifespan dramatically.

Leather with the hair still attached is called hair-on.

Types[edit]

In general, leather is sold in four forms:

• Full-grain leather refers to hides that have not been sanded, buffed, or snuffed (as opposed to top-grain or corrected leather) to remove imperfections (or natural marks) on the surface of the hide. The grain remains allowing the fiber strength and durability. The grain also has breathability, resulting in less moisture from prolonged contact. Rather than wearing out, it will develop a patina over time. High quality leather furniture and footwear are often made from full-grain leather. Full-grain leathers are typically available in two finish types: aniline and semi-aniline.

• Top-grain leather (the most common type used in high-end leather products) is the second-highest quality. It has had the "split" layer separated away, making it thinner and more pliable than full-grain. Its surface has been sanded and a finish coat added to the surface which results in a colder, plastic feel with less breathability, and it will not develop a natural patina. It is typically less expensive and has greater resistance to stains than full-grain leather, so long as the finish remains unbroken.

• Corrected-grain leather is any leather that has had an artificial grain applied to its surface. The hides used to create corrected leather do not meet the standards for use in creating vegetable-tanned or aniline leather. The imperfections are corrected or sanded off, and an artificial grain impressed into the surface and dressed with stain or dyes. Most corrected-grain leather is used to make pigmented leather as the solid pigment helps hide the corrections or imperfections. Corrected grain leathers can mainly be bought as two finish types: semi-aniline and pigmented.

• Split leather is leather created from the fibrous part of the hide left once the top-grain of the rawhide has been separated from the hide. During the splitting operation, the top-grain and drop split are separated. The drop split can be further split (thickness allowing) into a middle split and a flesh split. In very thick hides, the middle split can be separated into multiple layers until the thickness prevents further splitting. Split leather then has an artificial layer applied to the surface of the split and is embossed with a leather grain (bycast leather). Splits are also used to create suede. The strongest suedes are usually made from grain splits (that have the grain completely removed) or from the flesh split that has been shaved to the correct thickness. Suede is "fuzzy" on both sides. Manufacturers use a variety of techniques to make suede from full-grain. A reversed suede is a grained leather that has been designed into the leather article with the grain facing away from the visible surface. It is not considered to be a true form of suede.^[3]

Less-common leathers include:

• Buckskin or brained leather is a tanning process that uses animal brains or other fatty materials to alter the leather. The resulting supple, suede-like hide is usually smoked heavily to prevent it from rotting.

• Patent leather is leather that has been given a high-gloss finish. The original process was developed in Newark, New Jersey, by inventor Seth Boyden in 1818. Patent leather usually has a plastic coating.

• Fish Leather : leather popular for its motifs and its pigmentation. Mainly used for making shoes and bags, the fish skin is tanned like other animal skins.^[4] The species used include salmon, perch, sturgeon, etc.

1. Salmon : farmed in Iceland and Norway, salmon skin has fine scales. Its strength and elegant look make it the most popular fish leather.
2. Perch : coming from Nile, its skin is recognizable with its large, round and soft scales.
3. Wolffish : its skin is smooth because without scales. We recognize it thanks to its dark spots, and the 'stripes' which are due to the friction of marine rocks.
4. Cod : its skin has finer scales than salmon, but its texture is more varied, sometimes smooth and sometimes rough.
5. Sturgeon : fish well known for its eggs (caviar), which make it rare. Its leather is thus quite expensive.
6. Eel : fish without scales, its skin has a shiny appearance.
7. Tilapia : its leather is less resistant than salmon and perch but is still exotic. It comes mainly from Africa (Nile).
8. Shagreen is also known as stingray skin/leather. Applications used in furniture production date as far back as the art decoperiod. The word "shagreen" originates from France. It's known as the most difficult leather to work due to dished scales of the animal, and it is one of the most expensive leathers.
9. Shark : its skin is covered of small, close-set tubercles, making it very tough. The handbags made of shark skin used to be in vogue but this keen interest has since fallen as the costs of production and of the leather itself are very high. Moreover, this skin is more difficult to work.

• Vachetta leather is used in the trimmings of luggage and handbags. The leather is left untreated and is therefore susceptible to water and stains. Sunlight will cause the natural leather to darken in shade, called a patina.

• Slink is leather made from the skin of unborn calves. It is particularly soft and is valued for use in making gloves.

• Deerskin is a tough leather, possibly due to the animal's adaptations to its thorny and thicket-filled habitats.^{[citation needed]} Deerskin has been used by many societies, including indigenous Americans. Most modern deerskin is no longer procured from the wild, with deer farms breeding the animals specifically for the purpose of their skins. Large quantities are still tanned from wild deer hides in historic tanning towns such as Gloversville and Johnstown in upstate New York. Deerskin is used in jackets and overcoats, martial arts equipment such as kendo and bogu, as well as personal accessories such as handbags and wallets.

• Nubuck is top-grain cattle hide leather that has been sanded or buffed on the grain side, or outside, to give a slight nap of short protein fibers, producing a velvet-like surface.

There are two other types of leather commonly used in specialty products, such as briefcases, wallets, and luggage:

• Belting leather is a full-grain leather that was originally used in driving pulley belts and other machinery. It is found on the surface of briefcases, portfolios, and wallets, and can be identified by its thick, firm feel and smooth finish. Belting leather is generally a heavy-weight of full-grain, vegetable-tanned leather.

• Napa leather is chrome-tanned and is soft and supple. It is commonly found in wallets, toiletry kits, and other personal leather goods.

The following are not "true" leathers, but are synthetic materials that contain some leather fiber. Depending on jurisdiction, they may still be labeled as "Genuine Leather", even though the consumer generally can only see the plastic outer layer of the material and can't actually see any of the leather content:

• "Reconstituted leather", is composed of up to 90% leather fibers (often scrap from leather tanneries or leather workshops) bonded together with a plastic or latex binders to create a look and feel similar to that of leather at a fraction of the cost. The resulting material is not as durable as real leather and is recommended for use only if the product will be used infrequently.
• "Bonded leather" used for upholstery is a plastic (generally vinyl or polyurethane) material that contains about 17% leather fiber in its backing material. The plastic is stamped to give it a leather-like texture. Bonded leather upholstery is as durable as other plastic materials and its manufacturing process is more environmentally-friendly than leather production.^{[citation needed]}

• Bycast leather is a split leather with a layer of polyurethane applied to the surface and then embossed. Bycast was originally made for the shoe industry and recently was adopted by the furniture industry. The original formula created by Bayer was strong but expensive. The result is a plastic material that is slightly stiffer but cheaper than top-grain leather but has a much more consistent texture. Because its surface is completely covered in plastic, is easier to clean and maintain.

From other animals[edit]

Tanned leather in Marrakech

Today most leather is made of cattle skin but many exceptions exist. Lamb and deerskin are used for soft leather in more expensive apparel. Deer and elkskin are widely used in work gloves and indoor shoes. Pigskin is used in apparel and on seats of saddles. Buffalo, goats, alligators, dogs, snakes, ostriches, kangaroos, oxen, and yaks may also be used for leather.

Kangaroo skin is used to make items which need to be strong but flexible—it is the material most commonly used in bullwhips. Kangaroo leather is favored by some motorcyclists for use in motorcycle leathers specifically because of its light weight and abrasion resistance.^[5]Kangaroo leather^[6] is also used for falconry jesses and soccer footwear.^[7]

At different times in history, leather made from more exotic skins has been considered desirable. For this reason certain species of snakes and crocodiles have been hunted.^{[citation needed]}

Although originally raised for their feathers in the 19th century, ostriches are now more popular for both meat and leather.^[8] There are different processes to produce different finishes for many applications, i.e., upholstery, footwear, automotive products, accessories, and clothing. Ostrich leather is currently used by many major fashion houses such as Hermès, Prada, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton. Ostrich leather has a characteristic "goose bump" look because of the large follicles from which the feathers grew.

In Thailand sting ray leather is used in wallets and belts. Sting ray leather is tough and durable. The leather is often dyed black and covered with tiny round bumps in the natural pattern of the back ridge of an animal. These bumps are then usually dyed white to highlight the decoration. Sting ray leather is also used as grips on Chinese swords, Scottish basket hilted swords and Japanesekatanas.

Production processes[edit]

Drying of leather in East Timor

Leather tanning in Fes, Morocco

Main article: Leather production processes

The leather manufacturing process is divided into three fundamental sub-processes:preparatory stages, tanning, and crusting. All true leathers will undergo these sub-processes. A further sub-process, surface coating, can be added into the leather process sequence, but not all leathers receive surface treatment. Since many types of leather exist, it is difficult to create a list of operations that all leathers must undergo.

The preparatory stages are when the hide/skin is prepared for tanning. Preparatory stages may include: preservation, soaking, liming, unhairing, fleshing, splitting, reliming, deliming,bating, degreasing, frizing, bleaching, pickling, and depickling.

Tanning is the process which matches the protein of the raw hide or skin into a stable material which will not putrefy and is suitable for a wide variety of end applications. The principal difference between raw hides and tanned hides is that raw hides dry out to form a hard inflexible material that when re-wetted (or wetted back) putrefy, while tanned material dries out to a flexible form that does not become putrid when wetted back. Many different tanning methods and materials can be used; the choice is ultimately dependent on the end application of the leather. The most commonly used tanning material is chromium, which leaves the leather, once tanned, a pale blue color (due to the chromium); this product is commonly called "wet blue". The hides once they have finished pickling will typically be between pH 2.8 and 3.2.^{[citation needed]} At this point, the hides would be loaded in a drum and immersed in a float containing the tanning liquor. The hides are allowed to soak (while the drum slowly rotates about its axle) and the tanning liquor slowly penetrates through the full substance of the hide. Regular checks will be made to see the penetration by cutting the cross-section of a hide and observing the degree of penetration. Once an even degree of penetration exists, the pH of the float is slowly raised in a process called basification. This basification process fixes the tanning material to the leather and the more tanning material fixed, the higher the hydrothermal stability and increased shrinkage temperature resistance of the leather. The pH of the leather when chrome tanned would typically finish somewhere between 3.8 and 4.2.^{[citation needed]}

Crusting is the process by which the hide/skin is thinned, retanned, and lubricated. Often a coloring operation is included in the crusting subprocess. The chemicals added during crusting must be fixed in place. The culmination of the crusting subprocess is the drying and softening operations. Crusting may include the following operations: wetting back, sammying, splitting, shaving, rechroming,neutralization, retanning, dyeing, fatliquoring, filling, stuffing, stripping, whitening, fixating, setting, drying, conditioning, milling, staking, and buffing.

For some leathers, a surface coating is applied. Tanners refer to this as finishing. Finishing operations may include: oiling, brushing, padding, impregnation, buffing, spraying, roller coating, curtain coating, polishing, plating, embossing, ironing, ironing/combing (for hair-on), glazing, and tumbling.

Environmental impact[edit]

Leather is a product with some environmental impact, most notably due to:

• the use of chemicals in the tanning process (e.g. chromium, formic acid, mercury and solvents, ...)
• air pollution due to the transformation process (hydrogen sulfide during dehairing and ammonia during deliming, solvent vapors).
• Leather biodegrades slowly; it takes 25–40 years to decompose. However, vinyl and petro-chemical derived materials will take 500 or more years to break down and return to the earth.

One ton of hide or skin generally leads to the production of 20 to 80 m³ of wastewater including chromium levels of 100–400 mg/L, sulfide levels of 200–800 mg/L and high levels of fat and other solid wastes, as well as notable pathogen contamination. Pesticides are also often added for hide conservation during transport. With solid wastes representing up to 70% of the wet weight of the original hides, the tanning process comes at a considerable strain on water treatment installations.^[9]

Tanning is especially polluting in countries where environmental regulations are lax, such as in India, the world's third-largest producer and exporter of leather. To give an example of an efficient pollution prevention system, chromium loads per produced tonne are generally abated from 8 kg to 1.5 kg. VOC emissions are typically reduced from 30 kg/t to 2 kg/t in a properly managed facility. A review of the total pollution load decrease achievable according to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization^[10] posts precise data on the abatement achievable through industrially proven low-waste advanced methods, while noting that "even though the chrome pollution load can be decreased by 94% on introducing advanced technologies, the minimum residual load 0.15 kg/t raw hide can still cause difficulties when using landfills and composting sludge from wastewater treatment on account of the regulations currently in force in some countries."

In Kanpur, the self-proclaimed "Leather City of World" with 10,000 tanneries as of 2011 and a city of 3 million people on the banks of the river Ganges, pollution levels were so high that despite an industry crisis, the pollution control board has decided to seal 49 high-polluting tanneries out of 404 in July 2009.^[11] In 2003 for instance, the main tanneries' effluent disposal unit was dumping 22 tonnes of chromium-laden solid waste per day in the open.^[12] Scientists at the Central Leather Research Institute in India have developed biological methods for pretanning as well as better chromium management.

In the Hazaribagh neighborhood of Dhaka in Bangladesh, chemicals from tanneries end up in Dhaka's main river. Besides the environmental damage, the health of both local factory workers and the end consumer is also negatively affected. Besides local sales of products made with leather from the Hazaribagh neighborhood of Dhaka, the leather is also bought by huge Western companies and sold in the developed world.^[13][14]

The higher cost associated to the treatment of effluents that to untreated effluent discharging leads to illegal dumping to save on costs. For instance, in Croatia in 2001, proper pollution abatement cost 70-100 USD/t of raw hides processed against 43 USD/t for irresponsible behavior.^[15]

No general study seems to exist but the current news is rife with documented examples.^{[clarification needed]} In November 2009 for instance, it was discovered that one of Uganda's main leather producing companies directly dumped its waste water in a wetland adjacent to Lake Victoria.^[16]

Role of enzymes[edit]

Enzymes like proteases, lipases, and amylases have an important role in the soaking, dehairing, degreasing, and bating operations of leather manufacturing.

Proteases are the most commonly used enzymes in leather production. The enzyme used should not damage or dissolve collagen orkeratin, but should be able to hydrolyze casein, elastin, albumin, and globulin-like proteins, as well as non-structured proteins which are not essential for leather making. This process is called bating.^[17]

Lipases are used in the degreasing operation to hydrolyze fat particles embedded in the skin.^[18]

Amylases are used to soften skin, to bring out the grain, and to impart strength and flexibility to the skin. These enzymes are rarely used.

Preservation and conditioning[edit]

The natural fibers of leather will break down with the passage of time. Acidic leathers are particularly vulnerable to red rot, which causes powdering of the surface and a change in consistency. Damage from red rot is aggravated by high temperatures and relative humidities and is irreversible.

Exposure to long periods of low relative humidities (below 40%) can cause leather to become desiccated, irreversibly changing the fibrous structure of the leather. Chemical damage can also occur from exposure to environmental factors, including ultraviolet light, ozone, acid from sulfurous and nitrous pollutants in the air, or through a chemical action following any treatment with tallow or oil compounds. Both oxidation and chemical damage occur faster at higher temperatures.

Various treatments are available such as conditioners, but these are not recommended by conservators since they impregnate the structure of the leather artifact with active chemicals, are sticky, and attract stains.^{[citation needed]} Saddle soap is used for cleaning, conditioning and softening leather. Leather shoes are widely conditioned with shoe polish.

Book binding[edit]

Leather used in book binding has many of the same preservation needs: protection from high temperatures, high relative humidity, low relative humidity, fluctuations in relative humidity, light exposure, dust buildup, pollution, mold, and bug infestation.^[19][20]

For books with red rot, acid-free phase boxes and/or polyester dust jackets (Dupont Mylar Type D or ICI Mellinex 516) are recommended to protect the leather from further handling damage and as well as to prevent the residues from getting on hands, clothes, the text block, and nearby books.^[21]

The debate on the use of dressings for preservation of book bindings has spanned several decades as research and experimental evidence have slowly accumulated. The main argument is that, done incorrectly, there are multiple disadvantages and that, done correctly, there is little to no preservation advantage. Pamphlets and guidelines give numerous downsides to dressings use, including: the dressing becoming increasingly acidic and will discolor and stain the leather, oxidize (penetration and expansion of oils including displacement and weakening of fibers) and stiffen, leave a sticky surface, collect dust, wick into adjacent materials, form unstable surface spews, encourage biological deterioration and mold growth, block surface porosity, impede further treatment, wet and swell the leather, affect surface finishes, and desiccate or dry out the leather.^[22] Meanwhile, scientific experiments have shown no substantial benefits.^[23] The main authorities on the subject therefore discourage it, with a caveat for special cases done under the direction of a conservator.^[19][21][22]

Leathercrafting[edit]

Main article: Leather crafting

Leather can be decorated by a variety of methods, including pyrography and beading.

Cordwain and Cuir de Cordoue[edit]

Fragment of Cuir de Cordoue

Cordwain, once a synonym of cordovan (through Old French cordewan) meaning "fromCórdoba" describes a certain kind of fine leather, originally from Córdoba. Cordwainer is still used to describe someone in the profession of shoemaking.

The related term Cuir de Cordoue refers to painted and gilded (and sometimes embossed) leather hangings manufactured in panels and assembled for covering walls as an alternative to tapestry.

Main article: Cuir de Cordoue

In modern culture[edit]

A motorcycle-style leather jacket.

Due to its excellent resistance to abrasion and wind, leather found a use in rugged occupations. The enduring image of a cowboy in leather chaps gave way to the leather-jacketed and leather-helmeted aviator. When motorcycles were invented, some riders took to wearing heavy leather jackets to protect from road rash and wind blast; some also wear chaps or full leather pants to protect the lower body. Top-quality motorcycle leather is superior to any practical man-made fabric for abrasion protection and is still used in racing. Many sports still use leather to help in playing the game or protecting players; its flexibility allows it to be formed and flexed.

The term leathering is sometimes used in the sense of a physical punishment (such as a severe spanking) applied with a leather whip, martinet, etc.

Leather fetishism is the name popularly used to describe a fetishistic attraction to people wearing leather, or in certain cases, to the garments themselves.

Many rock groups (particularly heavy metal and punk groups in the 1980s) are well known for wearing leather clothing. Leather clothing, particularly jackets, are common in the heavy metal and Punk subculture. Extreme metal bands (especially black metal bands) and Goth rock groups have extensive leather clothing, i.e. leather pants, accessories, etc.

Many cars and trucks come with optional or standard "leather" seating. This can range from cheap vinyl imitation leather, found on some low cost vehicles, to real Napa leather, found on certain models of luxury car brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi.

Leather is used exclusively by publishers like The Easton Press to bind books, for both practical and aesthetic purposes.

Religious sensitivities[edit]

In religiously diverse countries, leather vendors are typically careful to clarify the kinds of leather used in their products. For example, leather shoes will bear a label identifying the animal from which the leather was taken. In this way, a Muslim would not accidentally purchase pigskin leather,^{[citation needed]} and a Hindu could avoid cow leather. Many Hindus who are vegetarians will not use any kind of leather.

Such taboos increase the demand for religiously neutral leathers like ostrich and deer.

Judaism forbids the comfort of wearing shoes made with leather on Yom Kippur, Tisha B'Av, and during mourning.^[24]

Jainism prohibits the use of leather since it is obtained by killing animals.

Alternatives[edit]

Some vegans and animal rights activists boycott the use of all items made from leather, believing the practice of wearing animal hides to be unnecessary and cruel. Animal rights groups such as PETA have called for boycotts and encourage the use of alternative materials such as synthetic leathers.

Many pseudo-leather materials have been developed, allowing those who wish to wear leather-like garments to do so without actually wearing leather. One example of this is vegan microfiber, which claims to be stronger than leather when manufactured with strength in mind. Vinyl materials, pleather, Naugahyde, Durabuck, NuSuede, Hydrolite, and other alternatives exist, providing some features similar to leather.^{[citation needed]}