From Hide to Jacket: How a Leather Jacket Is Made
How a leather jacket is made is something most buyers never see. Our family does, every day. We have worked in tanneries for decades, and our family business runs a tannery in Raiwind, Lahore, with operations in Kasur. This is the journey a hide takes before it becomes a G7 Leather jacket.
1. Selecting the hide
Hides arrive at the tannery as a by-product of the meat industry. Each one is checked for size, thickness and surface flaws such as scars, insect bites and brand marks. The best hides, with clean surfaces and even thickness, are set aside for products where the surface shows, like jackets.
2. Soaking and cleaning
Hides are soaked in large drums of water to clean them and restore the moisture lost during storage. They are then treated to loosen and remove hair, and the flesh side is scraped clean in a step called fleshing.
3. Splitting
A thick cow hide is passed through a splitting machine that cuts it into layers. The top layer, with the natural grain, becomes smooth leather. The lower layer can be made into suede. Splitting also sets the final thickness, which decides how heavy or soft the finished jacket will be.
4. Tanning
Tanning turns raw skin, which would rot, into leather, which lasts for decades. The hides go back into drums with tanning agents that bond with the skin’s fibres and make them stable. Most jacket leather is chrome-tanned, which gives a soft, flexible leather that holds colour well. Vegetable tanning, using plant extracts, gives a firmer leather often used for belts.
5. Dyeing and softening
After tanning, the leather is dyed through, so the colour goes deeper than the surface. Oils are added to replace natural fats and keep the leather supple. This step decides how the leather will feel in your hands and how it will age.
6. Drying and finishing
The leather is dried slowly to avoid stiffness, then finished. For suede, the surface is buffed to raise the soft nap. For smooth leather, a light finish evens the colour and adds some protection. Each piece is graded again before it leaves the tannery.
7. Cutting the pattern
A jacket is made from many pattern pieces: front panels, back, sleeves, collar and pockets. The cutter places each one on the leather so the grain runs the same way across the jacket and any small marks fall where they will not be seen.
8. Stitching and assembly
The pieces are stitched together by experienced craftsmen using heavy needles and strong thread. Leather does not forgive mistakes, because every needle hole stays. The lining, zips, rib-knit cuffs and waistband are added, and edges are finished so they do not fray or curl.
9. Final check
Each finished jacket is checked for stitching, zip action, symmetry and surface marks before it is packed. Anything that does not pass goes back.
Why we explain how a leather jacket is made
Knowing the process makes it easier to see why genuine leather costs more than PU, and why it lasts longer. It is also why we started G7 Leather: after decades of supplying leather for other people’s products, we wanted to make our own. Read more about our family, see our process, or see the result in our leather jackets.
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