Leather Origins and Making
What Are Hides and Skins in Leathermaking?
Hides come from large animals like cattle, skins from small ones like goats and sheep. See kips, pelts, weight classes and which layer becomes leather.
In leathermaking, hides are the skins of large animals such as cattle and buffalo, and skins come from smaller animals such as goats, sheep, deer and pigs. Both are raw materials that tanning turns into leather. Between the two sits the kip, the hide of immature cattle.
This page is part of our guide to where leather comes from and how it is made.
Hides, kips, skins and pelts at a glance
So hide and skin are not quite the same thing. Both are animal skin, but the trade uses the word for the animal's size. "Skin" is sometimes stretched to include furs. For a one-line answer, see our short definition of hides and skins.
| Term | What it means | Examples | Fact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hide | Outer covering of a large domestic animal; bigger, thicker and heavier than a skin | Cowhide, buffalo hide, horsehide | – |
| Kip | Hide of immature cattle, between a calf skin and a hide | Young cattle | – |
| Skin | Outer covering of a small domestic or wild animal; smaller, thinner and lighter | Goatskin, sheepskin, crocodile skin | – |
| Pelt | Skin and fur of a dead animal, or the skin with the fur removed | Any furred animal | – |
Where the weight line falls
There is no single global cut-off. A university tanning lecture gives these classes for cattle, weighed wet salted:
- Calf skin: under 15 lb (6.8 kg)
- Kip: 15 to 25 lb (6.8 to 11.3 kg), as classed in western countries
- Hide: over 25 lb (11.3 kg)
The lecture notes that the calf-skin and hide limits are those used in Bangladesh. FAO's trade classification groups whole bovine hides differently, splitting fresh or wet-salted hides at 16 kg (about 35 lb). The two systems disagree, so check which one a supplier uses. For cattle specifically, see what cow hides are.
Which animals supply hides and skins
Cattle hides make up about 65% of leather produced. Sheep supply about 13%, goats about 11% and pigs about 10%. Most hides come from domesticated animals.
The UNIDO Leather Panel describes hides and skins as an end product, "more correctly a by-product," of animal production and a renewable resource. The full list of species is in which animals leather comes from.
What part of a hide becomes leather
A raw hide has an outer epidermis, which is only about 1% of its thickness. Below that is the corium, the true leather-forming layer. Tanners remove the epidermis and tan the remaining derma.
By green (fresh) weight, a hide or skin is roughly:
| Component | Share of green weight | Fact |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 60% to 70% | – |
| Protein | 19% to 33% | – |
| Fatty matter | 2% to 30% | – |
| Minerals | 0.36% to 0.5% | – |
From raw hide to leather
Curing comes first: to stop decay, hides are salted at the slaughterhouse and dried for 3 to 6 days before sale to tanneries. Hides and skins are usually processed fresh or salted, then tanned.
Tanning is what makes them leather. An untanned hide dries hard and rots when wet again, while tanned leather stays flexible. Rawhide is a hide that is cleaned and dried but never tanned, so rawhide and leather are not the same. See hide vs leather.
Hides mainly go into footwear, upholstery and leather goods; skins go into clothing such as coats and gloves, plus leather goods and footwear. You can see both in one range: Leather Collection men's leather jackets are made in cowhide (a hide) or sheepskin, lambskin or goatskin (skins).
This 2013 film from the U.S. Hide, Skin and Leather Association, a trade group, follows cattle hides from the packing plant through trimming, fleshing, brine curing and grading before they ship to tanneries. It shows brine curing in tanks rather than the salting and drying described above, it promotes U.S. hides, and its trade figures date from when it was made.
Hides in history
American Indian tribes used hides for tepees, moccasins and buckskins, and the Inuit used them for summer tents, waterproof clothes and kayaks. First Nations peoples, including the Sioux, wrapped wet rawhide around broken long bones so it set like a cast as it dried.
FAQ
What is another word for animal skin?
Hide (large animals), skin (small animals) and pelt (skin with fur) are the main words. A kip is a young cattle hide.
How do you spell "hide" as in skin?
It is spelled h-i-d-e, the same as the verb. The noun is related to Dutch huid and German Haut, both meaning skin.
What are hides and skins used for?
Hides are used mainly for footwear, upholstery and leather goods. Skins are used for clothing, gloves, leather goods and footwear.
HitKB Editorial Team
HitKB articles are researched from published sources, cited in the text, and reviewed before publication.