Lure of Leather: Careers in Leather Technology

India not only exports leather goods, but leather products are highly consumed by the domestic market. With more and more multinationals coming to India, this industry is poised to become a hi-tech industry.

Right from footwear to belts, luggage to jackets, upholstery to musical instruments, garment tags to purses, leather has surpassed the traditional forms of just footwear and bags. These changing trends have boosted job opportunities for leather technologists.

The work

Leather Technology is a branch of engineering that deals with the synthesis, production and refining of leather so that it can be put to efficient use. It also deals with the synthesis of artificial leather and its use to make commercial goods. It is comparatively a new branch which is gaining importance in the industrial sector.

In a leather manufacturing unit, there is processing of skin and hide so that leather can be given a shape, treatment of skin, assessment of the thickness, softness, texture, colour, etc.

A leather technologist studies the use of various chemicals in the processing of leather and supervises the processing as per specifications. Ensuring the water resistance capacity before the leather is processed completely is another key part of being a leather technologist. They also ensure that proper research and quality control is in place when testing and analysis is done in the lab and for that chemical, dye stuffs and small scale apparatus are used.
Those in the marketing department should have some knowledge of production or quality management in leather accessories so that they can be the most suitable person to deal with potential customers or clients.

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