What are the leather fabrics generally?

    Natural leather is characterized by softness, breathability, wear resistance, high strength, high moisture absorption and water vapor permeability. In particular, there are natural grain patterns on the natural leather, which is unique to other shoemaking materials.

    Natural leather is mainly used for shoe upper leather and shoe lining leather. When making shoe upper leather, it is often made by chrome tanning or mainly chrome tanning. In general, the thickness of shoe upper leather made of cow leather is 1. 2~1。 4mm, while the upper leather made of sheepskin is 0. 8~1。 2 mm.

    The production method of shoe lining leather is chrome tanning and vegetable tanning, and the commonly used shoe lining leather includes natural color and finishing.

    (1) Classification of leather fabrics. Natural leather used in shoemaking process can be classified according to the following methods.

    ① It is classified according to different animal skins. Because natural leather comes from different animal skins, natural leather can be divided into livestock, wild animals, fish, sea animals, amphibians and reptiles according to their different animal skins. The natural leather commonly used in shoemaking mainly comes from livestock, such as cattle, sheep, pigs, etc., while crocodile skin, snake skin, etc. are often used as auxiliary ingredients.

    ② It is classified according to the type of leather. According to the type of leather used in shoe making, the leather fabric can be divided into four types: front leather, trimmed leather, two-layer leather and suede leather.

    ③ Classified by the name of leather fabric. According to the name of leather used in shoe making, natural leather can be divided into front leather, suede leather, trimmed leather, textured leather, shrunk leather, aniline leather, oil-soaked leather, gold (silver) leather, lacquer leather, split leather, shrunk leather and split suede leather. Full-grain soft leather, aniline leather and gold (silver) leather have become the main fabrics for shoes because of their good handle and bright color.

    (2) The characteristics of livestock natural leather. Natural hides of livestock, such as cattle, sheep and pig skins, are the main materials used for shoe uppers. They all have their own characteristics and are good shoemaking fabrics.

    ① The characteristics of cowhide. Cow leather used in the processing of leather shoes mainly includes three types: cattle leather, yak leather and buffalo leather.

    The cattle hide is characterized by uniform thickness, fine and good-looking grain, small pores and little difference in parts. Therefore, the utilization rate of cattle hide is very high, and it is a good natural leather.

    The yak skin is characterized by fine pores and slightly coarser grain surface than cattle skin. Because it lives in high and cold areas, the fat content in the skin is relatively high, the fiber weaving of its skin is relatively loose, and there are defects such as tabanus eyes on its back.

    Buffalo leather is characterized by sparse pores, large pores, rough grain surface and poor elasticity.

    The cattle leather used in shoe making is the best, yak leather is slightly inferior to cattle leather, and buffalo leather is the worst.

    ② The characteristics of sheepskin. Sheepskin used for making shoes can be divided into goat skin and sheep skin.

    Goatskin is characterized by smooth and fine grain of leather, tight fiber weaving, and high tensile strength. It is often used as the fabric for shoes.

Sheepskin is characterized by thin skin, fine and smooth grain. Although the tensile strength is low, the leather fabric has great extensibility, and is mostly used for clothing fabrics.

    ③ Pigskin. Pigskin is characterized by large pores, good permeability, fine fiber weaving, high strength resistance, and wear resistance. It is a good shoe fabric.

    (3) The part of leather fabric. The whole piece of natural leather, such as pigs, cattle and sheep, can be divided into several parts according to their physical characteristics, each part has its own characteristics.

    ① Head and tail. Only cattle and sheep have head and tail parts. Because of their small size, they are mainly used for the secondary parts of shoes.

    ② Neck and shoulder. Because the neck and shoulder are relatively rough, with many wrinkles, and the fiber weaving is relatively loose, it is mainly used for the fabric of the back collar, heel wrap and boot barrel.

    ③ Back part. Because the leather surface at the back is fine and smooth, the grain surface is fine, the fiber weave is dense, and the utilization rate is high, it is mostly used for the fabric of the front upper of shoes.

    ④ Side belly. The leather at the side belly is thin, with poor elasticity, but strong extensibility. It is often used as the fabric for the back pad and tongue.

    ⑤ Armpit. The leather at the armpit is of the worst quality. The leather is soft and thin. It is often used as the fabric for the tongue and ear protection.

    ⑥ Hip position. The leather at the hip position is the best quality leather. Because the fiber at the arm is fine and thick, its tensile strength is good and its wear resistance is good. It is the main fabric such as the front upper when making shoes.

    ⑦ Four limbs. The limbs are also unique to cattle, sheep and other domestic animals. Because of its loose fiber, hard leather and low utilization rate, it is often used as the fabric of back pad and tongue.