Horween: Leather from Chicago since 1905
It was 1893 when Ukrainian Isadore Horween emigrated from his homeland, like so many others at the time, to find his fortune in America. Horween, who had already worked as a tanner in his old home, quickly found a job in Chicago, where the concentration of tanneries was particularly high around the turn of the century. There, west of the Chicago River, on the North Elston Avenue known as "Tannery Row", he would make a name for himself in the next twelve years before opening his own tannery on Division Street in 1905. "Horween & Co." began its production with the leather that would become synonymous with it more than 107 years later: Shell Cordovan. That leather dream, which can only be obtained from a very specific part of the horse, the so-called rump. Unlike horse-hide leather, Shell Cordovan is made up of two overlapping muscles that become particularly supple, resistant and shiny after tanning, making it highly valued by shoe lovers all over the world.
Horween: Leather for the NFL and the global market
Isadore's son, Arnold Horween, landed the coup in the 1940s: he was able to convince Wilson, the sports equipment manufacturer also based in Chicago, to collaborate. Arnold, who had worked successfully as a player and coach in the North American Football League (NFL) before taking over the company, managed to get Horween to produce the leather for the official game ball of the NFL. From then on, Horween was live at every kick-off of America's favorite sport.
Horween's latest coup: Chromexcel
Today, Horween employs nearly 160 people in Chicago who are responsible for tanning a wide range of full-grain and embossed leathers - with every step of the process taking place on site. About 4,000 tanned cowhides leave the production every week. However, Horween is famous all over the world for its horse leather, where the company practically holds a monopoly. Any shoe manufacturer who wants to offer Cordovan models cannot avoid Horween leather. The raw hides, by the way, come from France, where they are a by-product of the meat-producing industry.
The tanning of horse leather accounts for about 15 to 20 percent of the company's total turnover. And again, only about 10 percent of a horse hide is made up of the famous Shell Cordovan. While the chrome tanning of cowhides takes four weeks, the Cordovan shells take an average of six months to be delivered. As demand continues to rise, Nick Horween sometimes has no choice but to turn away new customers. The hand-polished and dyed leather is particularly popular among shoe lovers, and Horween has managed to make its Shell Cordovan synonymous with high-quality, extremely supple and shiny horse leather.
