Nearly everyone uses leather in some way each day. People all over the world wear shoes, coats, belts, and gloves and carry handbags or billfolds made out of leather. Cowboys wearing leather boots ride on leather saddles, and industrial workers wear special safety work shoes or boots made from leather to protect their feet.
Industry depends on leather products.
The furniture and automobile industries, for example, use leather for upholstery, and leather gaskets are found in some engine blocks. Manufacturing The hides and skins of domestic animals are the main source of leather. The skins of large animals such as cattle and horses are called hides. Those of smaller animals such as sheep, goats, calves, and ostrich are referred to as skins. Hides and skins are removed from animals after they are slaughtered at modern slaughterhouses.