Why Leather Continues to Be Used for Shoes and Other Clothing Items

Leather has been around for a long time, in fact leather has been used by humans even in the very early days of civilization. But why? We have all of these synthetic materials now that are incredibly tough, strong, and durable. Why have leather items like leather boots, shoes, and jackets continued to remain popular and in use?

Below, we break down the reasons for exactly that.

Leather Is Easy to Work With

Plenty of materials seem like they would make sense at the base level for items in replace leather to make things like leather boots. Fleece is insulating, polyester is water resistant, cotton is breathable. While many of these materials are useful in their own way, they just don’t stand up to leather when it comes to footwear or workwear.

Leather can be cut and shaped with comparative ease, it’s light, strong, supple, and most importantly, it breathes. This means that popping your feet out of your shoes at the end of the day doesn’t mean that all the pent-up smells and sweat come with it. Sweat doesn't build up nearly as much when footwear is made from leather.

Leather Is Comfortable and Tough

Obviously, leather would’ve been replaced long ago if the material wasn’t comfortable. Leather comes in a variety of types and designs and can easily be customized to offer the maximum comfort possible.

While comfort is important, durability is the main property where leather shines. Not only is the material flexible, but leather footwear is well-known for keeping its integrity for a long time.

In fact, with the proper care and maintenance, leather footwear can actually last a lifetime. Few other shoe or boot materials can make this claim as many materials used in footwear tend to last 1-2 years at best.

Leather Is Durable

We already alluded to leather’s toughness, but it actually has even more advantageous properties when it comes to durability.

In addition to being strong and flexible, it can also be treated to be waterproof. There’s a reason why many biker jackets are made of leather (and it’s not just because it’s fashionable). The material is highly functional as well. Few materials can claim to have so many useful properties and leather’s prevalence in the clothing and footwear market is a clear sign of that.

Leather footwear, in particular, actually makes up over 40 percent of all traded footwear globally.

Clearly, leather has made its mark on the world. The material is used in everything from clothing to furniture and will likely continue to be used for many years to come.

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