Stretchability of leather General
The stretchability of a hide used to make leather depends on the tanning process and the part of the hide used. For example, chrome-tanned leather is more stretchy than vegetable-tanned leather. This property plays an important role in the manufacture of leather products. It always depends on the product: for example, a belt doesn't need to be particularly stretchy, unlike leather gloves.
Factors of leather stretchability
The leather fiber structure, which determines the stretchability of the leather, depends on various factors.
Stretchability varies depending on the animal's age. For example, the skin of older cows is looser than that of young bulls due to years of milk production.
Different parts of the hide also have different levels of stretchability. The figure below shows how the stretchability of a chrome-tanned cowhide, for example , is distributed. The red areas are over 100% stretchable, the yellow areas between 75 and 100%. The stretchability of the green areas is not further defined.
Additional sources (accessed 14.01.2019):
- lederzentrum(dot)de/wiki/index.php/Dehnbarkeit
- softart-leder-shop.de/btc/leder-lexikon/konzept/dehnlichkeit
