Whether used for shoes, furniture, or car seats – leather is one of the world’s last “natural” materials. But aside from the fact that today’s leather is also made from hides, it has little in common with the leather used centuries ago. That’s because modern chemicals make leather a very robust product that measures up to all types of high-tech materials – without losing any of its “naturalness".

So now the big question: How long have people been using chemical processes to make their lives more comfortable? Since the invention of plastics at the turn of the 20th century? A good guess, but wrong. Since the discovery in seventh-century China of a technique for making porcelain? Closer, but still far off. The correct answer is that chemistry has been around for at least 6,000 years. People have been using “vegetable tanning” methods to turn hides into durable leather for at least that long.