Century of Service: The Leather Research Laboratory's Role in the American Industry

For nearly a century, the Leather Research Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati has served as America's premier resource for leather testing, research and education. Founded in 1924, the laboratory remains the only specialized leather facility of its kind in the United States, providing crucial services to an industry facing unprecedented challenges.

"We were founded to do research and testing and education for the leather industry, and we've been doing that ever since 1924," explains Stephen Lange, the laboratory's director. With a staff of six, the lab works with everyone from hide brokers to major retailers, handling everything from traditional bovine leather to fish skin. 

A Legacy of Education

In its early years, the laboratory offered advanced degrees in leather science, training generations of tannery chemists and technicians. However, this changed dramatically in 1986. "The education went away in the eighties because the industry pretty much went offshore," Lange notes. "The interest in that education has actually come back, we've got people asking for degrees now but restarting something with the university is mind-bogglingly difficult."

Today, the laboratory fills some of this educational gap through two-day leather orientation courses which provide broad overviews of how leather is made and the nuances of processing. These courses emphasize a fundamental principle: the end use must determine the production method. "You can have baseball leather and garment leather made from bovine hides. It's the same hide, just different chemistry and different processing," Lange explains. "You need to decide what properties the leather has to have at the end before you start."

The loss of formal leather education in the United States means that companies that relied on on-the-job training now face a problem: their workers know what to do when things go wrong but not why. "If something unique comes up, they're not going to know how to fix it," Lange observes. This gap has increased demand for the laboratory's analysis services.

Core Services and Industry Support

The Leather Research Laboratory offers a comprehensive range of services that extend far beyond basic testing. The team conducts specification development and validation, helps resolve disputes between customers and tanners and performs detailed root cause analysis when problems arise. "We're a resource for the industry for problems and for education," Lange says. "We're a trusted third party to resolve issues when customers don't believe what the tanner is telling them."

Recent work has included investigating stain sources, examining chromium VI issues related to California's Proposition 65 litigation and helping determine actual exposure risks from various leather treatments. The laboratory also maintains a significant relationship with the U.S. military, conducting quality control and certification testing for military contractors producing leather gloves and boots.

One particularly interesting project involved developing a tanning process for lionfish skin. The invasive species threatens coral reefs and the laboratory helped create a market incentive for spear fishermen by making the skin into usable leather for wallets and shoe trim. "The structure was very, very tight," Lange recalls. "We had a hard time getting the skin fibers to open up enough so the chemicals could penetrate."

Challenging Misconceptions

A significant part of the laboratory's modern mission involves educating people about leather's sustainability and dispelling common myths. When Lange lectures design students at the university, "you always have at least one person in there thinking that the cows are slaughtered for their hides to make leather".

This fundamental misunderstanding extends to broader environmental concerns. "As long as we eat, we're going to have leather," Lange emphasizes. "It's more sustainable to make sure we use it ethically as much as we can." He contrasts this with synthetic alternatives, noting that "vegan leather is polyurethane made from dinosaurs. Leather is made from cows. We're making cows every day. Dinosaurs, not so much."

The laboratory's testing has revealed that many alternative materials fail to meet basic performance specifications. Samples of pineapple leather, mushroom leather and other plant-based alternatives typically don't come close to leather's standards for abrasion resistance, flex resistance or overall strength.

Chrome Tanning: Misunderstood but Essential

Perhaps no aspect of leather production faces more misconceptions than chrome tanning. While the process has a negative perception among some consumers, Lange defends its environmental advantages. Chrome tanning takes approximately eight hours compared to a month for vegetable tanning, making it far more energy-efficient. Perhaps most surprisingly, chrome-tanned leather actually biodegrades faster than vegetable-tanned leather.

"Chrome-tanned leather actually degrades quicker relative to vegetable tanning," Lange explains. "Part of the reason is that vegetable tanning creates such a tight structure, such a tight bond of all those chemicals that stabilize the collagen structure, versus the chrome, which is more open." Even with heavy finishes, chrome-tanned automotive leather will decompose within 25 years, leaving only a fraction of the original mass.

The laboratory has also demonstrated that U.S. tanneries maintain higher quality standards than many international competitors, particularly regarding chrome six and lead issues. "We've never had that issue with U.S. suppliers," Lange notes, contrasting this with problems found in furniture leather from China.

Looking Forward

Despite its century of service, the laboratory faces an uncertain future. Finding qualified staff has become increasingly difficult. "When we went to hire ourselves, we couldn't find anyone in the United States," Lange admits. "We had to go outside the country to find someone with the expertise and the desire to do it."

However, the University of Cincinnati remains committed to the laboratory's mission. After being moved off main campus to create more space, the university is now planning to relocate the lab to a new Biofutures building that will bring it back closer to campus and integrate it more fully into the university community.

As the only specialized leather laboratory in the United States, the Leather Research Laboratory continues to serve a global clientele while championing leather's sustainability credentials. In an industry under increasing scrutiny and facing competition from synthetic alternatives, Lange's team provides the scientific rigor and independent expertise needed to separate fact from fiction. And to ensure that this valuable byproduct of food production doesn't go to waste.