Water resistance is a base component in military leathers, and the technologies we employ have extreme hydrophobing effects, yet maintain high breathability and moisture management capabilities. It is essential that the processing technique is robust allowing consistent dynamic and static water resistance values that will last the life of the leather. Typically, tanners add more and more hydrophobing agent to try to gain the necessary performance, but this has the consequential downside with respect to causing over stretchy leathers and greasy patches.

As a result, Dr Leather has engineered a footwear product that provides typical maeser performance of over 25,000 flexes and less than 15% water uptake after just 48 hours from the end of wet processing, and through the ageing process this performance increases easily to over 100,000 flexes by the time the footwear is handed to the soldier. In addition the leather remains soft, for virtually zero breaking-in time, but also has good dimensional stability so that the fit of the boot remains during use.

For gloving applications we have multiple technology options to select from, driven by the specifications requested. We ensure these technologies also work in harmony with other materials to be used in the design of the gloves, which can typically feature cut resistant linings, and impact protection zoned areas.

One major requirement technologies to ensure the leathers provide high levels of perspiration resistance in the tannage, guaranteeing that the leather stays soft and supple throughout its lifetime. Standard leathers simply soak up the sweat and then dry out very hard, eventually shrinking and cracking. This is particularly desired in pilot’s gloves where high adrenaline situations cause concentrated exposure to sweat.