Where's the Beef (Leather)

I don’t know about other countries, but here in the states it’s the HUMANE society. And lot’s of liberal support.

I can remember years of shamming to buy or wear fur or leather products. We were told thousands of animals killed for fur. It was a sin.

Of course it’s fraudulent as hell. Like all liberal policies. No concept of sin.

When I was a child leather and fur was very common. Leather working was a shop class.

Leather and furs are a great products. Smells good too.

I love the smell of leather……. And sawdust. The blades are so thin now, sawdust is scarce.

We use to play and hunt for pennies in sawdust when we were kids.

When's the last time you or your kids played in sawdust? All kids should.

And always remember, the press is lying to you. It’s what they do.

There is a global demand for leather.

India, as an example: A human population roughly four times that of the USA, roughly half (estimates vary wildly on this) of the citizens purchase leather watch bands, belts, footwear, baseball gloves…

There seems to be very little domestic production of raw leather within India. Gotta come from somewhere.

There seems to be very little domestic production of raw leather within India. Gotta come from somewhere.

Maybe there is a requirement for the import of leather into India because cows are considered sacred to Hindus - hence no domestic production of cow hides.

But cattle still die, which must give a source of leather. But I don't suppose that satisfies the demand

As you say, the animals expire from age, disease, automobile or train collisions… things happen. I haven’t the vaguest idea what the various Indian cultures feels about an animal that has shed her earthly cow suit. A percentage of the population has no religious compunction about using some leftover cow parts as shoes, auto seats, sports equipment… purposeful slaughter of the animal and subsequent consumption of the flesh is (I believe, anyway) the forbidden part in Hinduism and Dharma.

Couple of things here...

1.) You think leather prices are high,... look at the beef prices. They go hand in hand.

2.) We get a large percentage of beef from Brazil. If they stop importing, we'd be eating a lot more pork and chicken. Farmers in this country needs (2) years to build up supply, and because of the above statement, they are well on their way.

3.) Once there becomes an over supply of beef, prices will drop and hydes will follow. And farmers will be sad...

There's plenty available...

https://leatherhidestore.com/

Data on U.S. consumption of leather hides is largely incomplete and must be inferred from other statistics, as the U.S. is primarily an exporter of raw and semi-processed hides. The vast majority of American hides are sent abroad for tanning, where they are converted into finished leather goods that are then largely re-imported for domestic consumption.

• Overall market size: The U.S. leather goods market was valued at an estimated $50.08 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to $76.53 billion by 2030.

The leatherhide store has no leather for outdoor uses. No chrome or veg tanned for carving. I find this to be unfortunate. It a sorry tell on leather making in the USA. At least Tandy is still around. Their prices are much higher than when I was a regular customer. A good plain hand made saddle is going to run several thousand dollars today.

Reply @ Doorman, the reason there is virtually no internal leather production in India is because the Cow is a sacred animal. The slaugter of beef cattle is severely restricted in India, most beef available is Water Buffalo and in some areas the sale of beef is forbidden altogether.
India's export of leather goods totalled 4.5 Billion dollars in 2024, world's second largest producer of leather garments and 3rd largest producer of Saddles and Harnesses.

I have a belief that the awareness of bovine veneration in Hinduism is well distributed, and no mention of this was necessary.

Likewise, one abundant global commodity in India is cheap labor, for which I also felt a spotlight was not necessary.

There seems to be a great difference in price between Mexican leather and American leather.

I remember, long ,long ago, in an Earth far, far away when you could get your car's interior, all leather, diamond tuck, rolled and pleated, your choice for $200 in Mexico.

The same job in USA was around $1200.

The craftsmanship was superior, no detail left unchecked.

They did my '55 chevy 2 door coupe in '70.

I hate I had to sell it, and I miss the feel and smell of the leather interior.

I am sure leather is cheaper in Mexico, but not as much difference as it was then.

There is something about leather--your body adopts it as a living thing, at least for me. I have a leather coat and putting it on is like being hugged by a loved one.

Ok. That's just sentimental me talking. YMMV.

I think they should start making more things from Python hides. If there is enough money in it, they will soon become extinct like all of the animals on the endangered list.

Hunters will find ways to trap more, faster, but right now it is a new skill that needs development.

Not sure if I would get the same feeling from snake hide.

@ Doorman, I made my comment based on your comment "There seems to be very little domestic production of raw leather within India." which implied you did not know why there was virtually no leather available internally.

@ HTRN, Not heard of Snakeskin shoes and boots or womens handbags, Belts, Wallets etc. ?

Certainly no shortage of raw material (Pythons) in Florida from what I see in the News ! Of Gators too !

Several years ago I was at a launch of a new Bentley and the CEO proudly proclaimed that the Bentley was environmentally friendly ! A shocked reporter asked him "how could a gas-guzzling monster be environmentally friendly".

The CEO simply said with a big grin on his face " we build about 14000 cars a year and for every Bentley interior we need 10 cowhides ! "

From what I have seen ,there are only small private owned businesses using Python hides. IF it became a large factory with good ROI, the snakes would soon disappear.

There is certainly competition from other snake harvesters but other snakes cannot match the patterns or size of the hides for large one pieces articles.

I would think that initially lowering prices on Python products would increase demand and build volume, then the need would arise for more processors.

The average size of a cowhide is roughly 4.5 sq.meters. When I was touring the Bentley works in Crewe they showed me a machine which they had built which stretched the cowhide on a frame that was then scanned 1sq.mm at a time. Thats 4.500.000 scans !! as a Bentley uses 10 hides in a car thats an amazing 45.000.000 scans per car. The computer programme then eliminated all imperfections like scars from minor cuts on barbed-wire fences etc. and then calculated how many intricate parts they could cut from the Hide. The Hide was then laid out on a worktable where a Laser then cut the pieces exactly as the scanner had plotted them. Amazing to watch it in action.

When I toured the Aston Martin factory in Gaydon, the buyer told me about an American woman who had a Vegan TV show in LA. She bought an Aston Martin but it was delivered with an artificial leather interior and even the real wood process had to be changed as the normal polishing by hand used real beeswax and she did not want any animal based products to be used in the car.

Yeah we got those...

I used to work for an aircraft company that did interiors of private business jets. A guy had us do the sideledges of the interior with stingray hides. It was a pretty cool look, but when the plane got hot, it stunk of fish.