How is Leather Made?

How does animal hide become leather? We still don’t fully understand the chemistry of tanning, but the basic steps are thousands of years old. In this week’s episode of Reactions, learn how leather is made.

More PBS Digital Studios Goodness here!

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Credits:
Producer: Elaine Seward
Writer: Alexa Billow
Scientific Consultants: Michelle Boucher, PhD Brianne Raccor, PhD Richard Haverkamp, PhD
Executive Producer: Hilary Hudson

Music:
Roberto Daglio - Com Todo Meu Amor
Mako Yama - At Starry Night

Sources:

Ever wonder why dogs sniff each others' butts? Or how Adderall works? Or whether it's OK to pee in the pool? We've got you covered: Reactions a web series about the chemistry that surrounds you every day.

Produced by the American Chemical Society.

[ACSReactions]

Featured in this video: Max, the producer’s 8-month-old goldendoodle.

[chinedulinus]

Where else would quarantine lead me lol

[Datande]

My one big complaint about this video is that its coverage of most of the process is much too vague. I don't feel like I really learned all that much from it.

[Mrk]

03:00 "You probably don't want to wear a jacket that was vegetable tanned"
04:06 "We'd like to thank Moore & Giles leather company, The genuine Italian vegetable tanned
leather consortium"

[clickbaitpolice]

nice colourful and informative presentation. Now, how are animals skinned?

[leoleony]

Just a minor correction, we know for SURE that hexavalent chromium is oncogenic, it most certainly causes cancer. It's not suspected, it is a certainty. As a pathology professor, I wish to highlight this.

[ashknoecklein]

Now I know exactly why vegetable-tanned leather is the only safe leather to use in parrot toys! Thanks!

[Frog_Enigma]

this is so cool. I wish we did this to everything we eat as to not waste

[deltabeta]

2:40 Ah! The good old days when child labour was legal

[BertaRS]

I had no idea of all this. Great video!

[leahdashes]

I don’t want to sit on my couch ever again

[anamorphicalan]

They have not said leather enough lmao

[jugzster]

Thank you animals for your suffering and sacrifice, just so we could have jackets and shoes and couches

[lazyperfectionist]

There's this argument that animals shouldn't have to die to give us food, especially considering that we are _omnivores._ What about the notion of animals dying in order to give us _clothing?_ Given that we can find alternatives for the _first_ end, it should be _laughably_ easy to find alternatives for the _second._

[nowgoawayanddosomethinggoo]

"...and titanium"
they're gonna be bulletproof now?

[sohelkazi]

How can I remove the cow leathe hairs with chemical as a first prosse ?? you can tells me more information. thank you.

[yrjkeenwa]

Yeah like how tf they make this or figure out how to do this back in the day 😅

[audreyakpaibor]

OMG! I FILLED UP SIX PAGES JUST ON A 4:36 SECONDS

[winonadaphne]

very sad when you realise how fucked up it is that baby animals are being slaughtered just to be turned into superficial items of status

[JacobthePoshPotato]

Actually fat tanning is the oldest form of tanning and mineral tanning has been around for thousands of years.