A Manual of Shoemaking and Leather and Rubber Products

by William H. Dooley

Kid is a term applied to shoe leather made from the skins of mature goats. The skin of the young goat or kid is made into the thin, flexible leather used for kid gloves, which is too delicate for general use in shoes. The goats from which come the supply of leather used in this country for women’s and children’s fine shoes are not the common, domesticated kind known in this country, but are wild goats or allied species partially domesticated, and are found in the hill regions of India, the mountains of Europe, portions of South America, etc.

There are about sixty-eight recognized kinds of goatskins that are imported from all over the world. The Brazilian, Buenos Ayres, Andean, Mexican, French, Russian, Indian, and Chinese are a few of the many kinds that are known as such. Each particular species of goat hide possesses its own peculiarities of texture. The thickness and grain differ according to the environment in which the animal has been raised. It is peculiar that those raised in cold climates do not have as thick skins as those raised in warmer climates, for the long, thick hair apparently takes the strength.

We may wonder where all the skins come from that are made up into glazed kid, mat kid, and suede, at the rate of several thousand dozen every day. The great proportion of the skins are goatskins. These are almost all imported from abroad, where the animals are slaughtered and disposed of much the same as we dispose of beef and veal here. Sheepskins and carbarettas, the hides of animals that are a cross between sheep and goats, are also used.

The finer grades of kid and goatskins which are tanned in large quantities in New England, come from the Far East.

In China there are two great ports from which skins are shipped, Tientsin and Shanghai. Back in the interior, starting from a point about twelve hundred miles from the sea, collectors make their rounds twice a year.

The breeder of goats kills his flock just before the collector is due, skins the animals on the hillside, preserves the meat for food, and with the kidskins, which have been partly dried, wrapped in a bundle carried upon the back, or upon a pack animal, the breeder makes his way to the station. It may be that there are a half hundred breeders awaiting the coming of the collector and he pays them the market price for the skins.

Whenever the collector has a sufficient supply to make it profitable to ship, he bales the skins and then sends them over the thousand mile journey along the river to the seaport. From Tientsin or Shanghai they are taken by tramp steamers, which reach Eastern ports by way of the Suez Canal, and on the trip the steamers make several ports, so that it is from six to ten weeks before the skins reach America.

Another method of importing is to have the raw material shipped across the Pacific and then transferred to a railroad, but the difference in cost to the manufacturer is so great that it is unprofitable.

The China goatskins are rated as among the finest in the world and when tanned they make the highest-grade shoe.

Then there are mocha skins, which come from Tripoli, Arabia, and Northern Africa. In those places the method of collection is practically the same as in China.