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America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

latimes.com

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Re: America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

#91

Post by cnst »

Clubber wrote: post #70
stonogo wrote: post #61

I'd be interested to know how much of this has to do with the dilution of the meaning of 'leather' in terms of consumer goods. The market is flooded with garbage products, which are produced by slicing a thin veneer of leather and gluing it to a plastic backing, which is then sold as "bonded leather." It's gotten so bad that full-grain leather products are exceedingly rare. Since 90% of "leather" products are such aw…

There is a grading system for leather. "Genuine" leather is a deceptive marketing term designed to sell shit leather as quality. https://joojoobs.com/leather-grades/

> https://joojoobs.com/leather-grades/

Thanks for this; I had no idea that Genuine Leather wasn't a good thing, but I did have my suspicions as so many products seem to use the designation where the quality doesn't seem to be there.

Will be making sure to look for full-grain leather from now on (ironically, I thought that "Genuine" designation was better).

Re: America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

#92

Post by antisthenes »

radicalbyte wrote: post #40
deftnerd wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have those reversed. Meat is incredibly packed with proteins and the calorie density is very high.

Lean meat is has around 100 kcal per 100 grams. This is similar to most fruits and veg. More fatty meat sits at around 230 kcal per 100 grams. You'll find that carb sources are around 200-350 kcal per 100 gram and sweet process foods are around the top of this level. So when the OP says that the calorie density in meat is low, they are correct in the case of lean meat.

Source for the 100kcal per 100 grams please.

Even rabbit meat, the leanest possible game meat has 136 calories per 100 grams.

https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/rabbit-mea...

Average red meats will have calorie ranges right around 180-240 kcal per 100 grams. Of course that's low compared to sugary processed foods if you're going just by calories.

But it certainly isn't lowest when you consider the entire food pyramid. (most veggies and some fruits are lower)

Re: America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

#93

Post by southerndrift »

deftnerd wrote: post #31
southerndrift wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you eat besides meat? Since meat has the lowest energy density, you most likely get your energy from other sources anyway. Even if you eat 500g / 1lb per day for a 2000kcal target, you would still get 1500kcal from other food.

I think you have those reversed. Meat is incredibly packed with proteins and the calorie density is very high.

Yes, I was thinking in the way of radicalbyte's comment and I take the dry values of carb sources which indeed reverses the ranking.

But even with beef, it takes 800g to reach 2000kcal[1]. I am just wondering if this can actually be the main source of energy for a long period of time.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef beef: 1,047 kJ (250 kcal) per 100g

Re: America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

#94

Post by refurb »

squirrelicus wrote: post #71
brandmeyer wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beef and hide are coupled goods. One cow produces about X kg of beef and Y m^2 of hide. If demand for beef is extra high, then it will depress the price of hide because the ratio in supply is roughly fixed between them. There are other examples in modern society. Chlorine and caustic soda are produced in strictly fixed ratios from NaCl salt and electricity. Extra demand for one will depress the price of the other. Th…

I can't help but get the sense that your economic materials analysis is based on a video game crafting economy. If the profitability of leather is low enough, then people will trash the raw hide but butcher and sell the beef. There's a lot of labor and logistics and materials that goes into producing the beef you cook or leather goods you buy beyond (cow) -> (meat,leather) -> (food,clothes). Remember, nobody knows ho…

They’ll trash the hides when the profitability of them reaches zero.

That still leaves a ton of room to over supply and depress prices.

Re: America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

#95

Post by acdha »

sokoloff wrote: post #65
acdha wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The economy is hardly white-hot, especially for people below the top decile or so – the median American worker made 5% LESS in 2018 than in 1979 ( https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45090.pdf ) – so I’d be surprised if this wasn’t basic economics: for a long time, leather was a premium good and cost more, so companies focused on using less of it and the large fraction of consumers who favor low prices rewarded them for it…

It appears to me that the report you cite says that the overall median real wage rose by 6.1% over that time period. (Table 1, page 4, first row; related text on page 5). What figure in the report are you using to determine a 5% decrease over that time period?

My mistake: that’s the figure for men overall, which is balanced in the general statistic by the huge gains for women. I should have checked more carefully but was on a phone.

The main point I was going at is that most of us here have a really skewed view of the general economy after a couple decades of good times for tech workers which haven’t been generally true of the overall job market, especially when you factor in benefits and job security. This is similar for stock market gains when so many Americans have no or only a token stake invested.

Re: America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

#96

Post by selimthegrim »

gingabriska wrote: post #33

So is it going to affect India? Leather is prominent industry in India. To what extent will it be affected?

My impression was Yogi Adityanath had already been picking on the industry in UP largely because of who predominates in it

Re: America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

#97

Post by Fezzik »

xahrepap wrote: post #67
stonogo wrote: post #61

I'd be interested to know how much of this has to do with the dilution of the meaning of 'leather' in terms of consumer goods. The market is flooded with garbage products, which are produced by slicing a thin veneer of leather and gluing it to a plastic backing, which is then sold as "bonded leather." It's gotten so bad that full-grain leather products are exceedingly rare. Since 90% of "leather" products are such aw…

I had a really awesome leather belt that I got when I was 15. I stopped wearing it when I was 30 because my weight finally out outgrew the belt. Still have it. It's no worse today than it was when I got it as a teen. I go through about a belt a year now. Because I always seem to end up with this crap you describe. Even if I try to avoid it. Guess I need to do a better job looking... Or just lose some weight so I can…

I’m in the same boat - I have a Nautica belt that I bought in 8th grade (37 now) that I still wear daily, though it is getting tighter it works like new. The buckle holes are not even noticeably stretched.

As a tangent, Vivobarefoot is a shoe company that makes very high quality leather shoes. I bought a pair of their brown low-tops and have worn them everyday for work for 4(+) years. Other than looking slightly worn they function as new. No affiliation, just impressed with the craftsmanship.

Good leather is good.

Re: America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

#98

Post by throw7 »

xahrepap wrote: post #67
stonogo wrote: post #61

I'd be interested to know how much of this has to do with the dilution of the meaning of 'leather' in terms of consumer goods. The market is flooded with garbage products, which are produced by slicing a thin veneer of leather and gluing it to a plastic backing, which is then sold as "bonded leather." It's gotten so bad that full-grain leather products are exceedingly rare. Since 90% of "leather" products are such aw…

I had a really awesome leather belt that I got when I was 15. I stopped wearing it when I was 30 because my weight finally out outgrew the belt. Still have it. It's no worse today than it was when I got it as a teen. I go through about a belt a year now. Because I always seem to end up with this crap you describe. Even if I try to avoid it. Guess I need to do a better job looking... Or just lose some weight so I can…

Yes. I have a leather belt from highschool (buckle is stamped spain, have no idea how i got it and my parents can't remember)... it has a weathered look to it, but is perfectly fine (i use it today still).

After getting fed up of of cloth like deteriorating "leather" belts, recently i looked closely and ended up with a timberland (stamped india) "genuine leather" (means not leather again) belt. In comparison, the timberland used stitching to attach the buckle while my old spanish belt used two hefty rivets to attach the buckle.

I think we do still make things excellently... it's just for the 1% (maybe when i was young in the u.s. i was the 1% in the world at the time).

Re: America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

#99

Post by sgt101 »

ngngngng wrote: post #55

I'm actually in the market for a leather jacket and boots right now, but I certainly haven't noticed prices going down at all. I'm finding leather jackets extremely difficult to shop for. Online advice is all over the place, and I want something to last a lifetime.

Trickers Boots.

Re: America has no use for hides, so leather prices plunge

#100

Post by Animats »

ngngngng wrote: post #55

I'm actually in the market for a leather jacket and boots right now, but I certainly haven't noticed prices going down at all. I'm finding leather jackets extremely difficult to shop for. Online advice is all over the place, and I want something to last a lifetime.

Find a cheap heavy but stiff motorcycle jacket that's solid leather. Get a can of Hydrophane leather dressing, which is about $20/half liter. This silicone oil is used to soften and waterproof saddles and horse equipment. Paint it on with a paintbrush. Give it about a day to soak in. You now have a soft leather jacket.

Horse people have been using this stuff for decades. It beats the "natural" products like neats-foot oil on both effectiveness and price.

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