Shell cordovan leather production follows a long and demanding process. In brief, the sections used for cordovan are cut from the croup area of the horsehide, then tanned, dyed, polished, and left to rest before the material reaches its finished form.
In brief, the production process looks like this. First, the parts that are used for the cordovan are cut out of the hide; they are located in the croup area, at the back of the horse. Then the wool is removed, after which the pieces of hide are put into a solution of tannins. At Horween, it includes chestnut bark, Quebracho tree bark, and resins. There they are moved regularly, which allows them to better absorb the necessary elements. After a month the skins are taken out of the solution and the top layer is removed to leave the membrane mentioned earlier – in fact, it is this membrane that will become cordovan. Then the parts of skins are immersed for a month in another solution – more concentrated. After this time, the membranes are removed from it and dyed by hand with aniline dyes. Then, in most cases, they are polished with glass cylinders to achieve a characteristic lustre, glossiness and visually deep colouring. Finally, the membranes are left to “rest” for several months – an important step that should not be neglected. Cordovan can be dyed in a limited range of colours. One of the best known and most popular is red-brown; two other common colours are burgundy-brown (Burgundy) and black. You can also find cordovan in dark brown, red-brown, blue and even green colours; the last two are still very rare.
What makes this process unusual is not only the number of stages, but also the time between them. Shell cordovan is not rushed through production. Tanning, dyeing, resting, and finishing all contribute to the dense structure, characteristic surface, and long-term behaviour of the material.
For a broader introduction to the material itself, see my article on shell cordovan.
This short video is included as a visual reference to one of the finishing stages in shell cordovan leather production. It helps illustrate the final treatment of the material and gives a more direct impression of the surface character discussed above.
The video is useful as a visual supplement, but it shows only one part of the broader production process. Cutting, tanning, dyeing, resting, and finishing all contribute to the final character of shell cordovan and to the way the material differs from ordinary leather.
For a more technical explanation of its structure, see Shell Cordovan in detail.
