Why Leather?
Yes, leather is expensive and is a status symbol.
If you ask,leather is used because it is expensive or leather is expensive because it is useful? the answer is yes to the second question. For making certain personal products which require hard wearing properties, leather has certain unmatched characters, which make it valuable and expensive.
Here we will see what are they? While wearing a leather shoe and a synthetic shoe you would have FELT the difference between the two!!! Using a leather upholstered car you would have experienced the benefits yourself !!!
Body Comfort
We, humans are warm blooded species, meaning our body temperature should be maintained at an optimum level. If the outside weather is too cold or too hot, the internal mechanism in our skin ensures that the excess heat or cold does not affect change the body temperature and affect the vital organs of the body
We also grow! The skin has such an elastic behaviour that it can accommodate the growth of our body by stretching, Except in unusual causes, (like suddedn weight loss around the belly) the skin holds tight around the body without wrinkles.
The third function of human skin is to protect the body from external factors such as scratches, roughing etc.
Supplementing the skin functions
Any garment or footwear we wear should help the skin perform its task better and provide additional functionality. What other material than the one which was originally designed by nature to do exactly the same function, is better suited for this purpose.
Leather is processed from the skins of animals slaughtered for their meat. Thus it is no wonder that leather performs the tasks it is called upon to do, exceptionally well
Properties of Leather
Comfort
Everything boils down to the way leather can keep our feet and body comfortable while providing protection
- When the outside temperature goes up, our skin sweats. If the skin is exposed to outside, the sweat evaporates and the body temperature is maintained at the normal level. Leather or any other material used to make the shoes should be able to let the sweat evaporate away or atleast absorb it so that our feet do not feel damp.
Leather does it with style. Leather is made of porous fiber network which can breathe out the sweat and bring in fresh air. It can absorb a large amount of the sweat as soon as it is released so that the feet is always dry and the absorbed sweat gradually moves towards outside and evaporates away.
This property of leather is tested by two parameters Water vapour permeability and Water absorption
This is important for upholstery and binding leather also, but in the reverse direction. The perspiration coming out through the clothes is absorbed by the leather and given off to the atomosphere gradually so that the area where the skin is touching the furniture doesnot become damp.
- When the temperature drops outside, the hairs on the skin are pulled erect and the air trapped among these hairs act as an insulator. This prevents heat from the body to be lost to the environment. Even though the hair on the skin has been removed during leather processing, the fiber network of the leather holds a large amount of air and prevents heat from flowing out from the body. For the same reason, the body is protected to some extent by getting heated by higher temperature outside.
- Individuals differ. No two feet are alike and it is very difficult to make an exact mould of the feet and make a perfect fitting pair of shoes.
We don't have to worry. Leather has inherited the property of elasticity from the skin and can extend to accommodate the shape of your feet in a matter of few days so that the pair of shoes you bought becomes truly your own molding to the shape of your feet.
This property helps greatly when it comes to the feet of growing children. As the feet grows day by day the leather on the shoe also adopts so that the child is comfortable till the feet grows to the next shoe size or the shoe wears out.
This property is critical in all tight fitting applications such as upholstery, automotive parts etc.
Protection
So leather is great in keeping the body comfortable. How does it perform? Is it strong enough to resist the wear and tear of day to day life.
Leather is made of fibers interwoven into a complex network. This makes it quite strong for its low weight and thickness. Comapred to any other fabric of natural origin and many of the synthetic fabrics, leather has an unsurpassed strength character sufficient to with stand the strains of a normal life.
Yes, if you have to go for sword fighting, leather armour won't do! But for many other ordinary uses the strength is sufficient..
A natural leather surface will easily get scratched. And protective coating applied on the surface reduces many of the comfort benefits explained above. In this respect a propertly selected PU sheet will serve better if you are willing to subject your feet to..... you know what!!!!
Ugly face of leather
We have sung enough praise of leather? What are the downsides? What are the complaints? How valid they are? We will see that in the next article on Say No to leather ???