Horsehide

Horsehide is leather tanned from the hide of a horse. In our handling, it is the leather collectors of Japanese reproduction jackets ask about first, because it was the original leather of the American A-2 flight jacket and because the best Japanese makers have built their reputations on it.

Definition

A horsehide is divided by tanners into two parts. Measured from the root of the tail eighteen inches forward along the backbone, the hide is cut at right angles into the front, the forward part, and the butt. Tanned fronts have been used for gloves, or blackened for the tops of shoes; the butt, split to remove the grain side, reveals the shell, the dense layer that becomes shell cordovan.

Shell cordovan is the most famous horse leather. It is made from the superficial fascia of the lower layers of the hide on the rump, takes its name from Cordoba in Spain, is difficult and expensive to make and does not crease, because it is made of connective tissue rather than outer skin. It has been used for razor strops, high-end shoes, wallets and watch straps.

Origin

For jackets, the key moment is the A-2. The first three A-2 flying jacket contracts of the early 1930s were for jackets of chrome-tanned horsehide with cotton linings. Cowhide was approved on 17 July 1940 and goatskin in 1941, so wartime A-2s survive in all three leathers, and in our reading horsehide became shorthand for the earliest pattern.

Horsehide remains a current leather. Tanneries such as Horween of Chicago, founded by Isadore Horween in 1905 and known for its shell cordovan, still work primarily in cowhide and horsehide. The London maker Lewis Leathers describes its horse leather as full grain and chrome tanned, with shorter fibres that develop a finer grain and creases as it breaks in.

Key facts

How to identify it

• The grain. In our handling, horsehide has a finer, flatter grain than cowhide and breaks into sharp, narrow creases at the elbows and pockets rather than broad folds.
• The weight. A horsehide jacket feels dense and stiff when new and softens slowly; cowhide is usually suppler from the start.
• The finish. In our handling, many horsehide jackets are tea-cored: dyed brown or black on the surface over a lighter core, so that wear reveals the colour beneath.
• Care. In our handling, horsehide wants little conditioning; too much oil darkens it unevenly and softens the crease pattern that gives an old jacket its character.
• The label. Japanese reproduction makers usually name the leather on the label or in the model number; read it, and match it against the maker's own catalogue where one exists.

Where it appears in the collection

Horsehide runs through the flight jacket and nose art shelf and the designer leather jackets shelf. Examples include the Buzz Rickson's A-2 in horsehide with a Queen of Hearts back and the Maison Mihara Yasuhiro double rider in black horsehide. For the makers, see our guide to The Real McCoy's A-2 and our Lewis Leathers collector's guide.

Related entries

• A-2 jacket: the flight jacket that made horsehide famous.
• Nose art: the painting carried onto jacket backs.
• Amekaji: the Japanese American-casual style that keeps the leather alive.

Sources

1. Shell cordovan, encyclopaedia entry, production and uses. wikipedia.org
2. Jackets, Flying, Type A-2, encyclopaedia entry, contracts and leathers. wikipedia.org
3. Horween Leather Company, encyclopaedia entry. wikipedia.org
4. Lewis Leathers, custom leather options, official site. lewisleathers.com

Last reviewed 15 November 2026. The Japonista Curation and Concierge Team, Tokyo, Japan.