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Exotic Skin Bags

The popularity of exotic skin products has led to the endangerment of some species, but now these species are being farmed and cleared by the authorities.

Alligator & Crocodile
Alligator and crocodile skins are either salted (the stage before leather) or tanned. Tanned alligator and crocodile skins are available in matte and gloss finishes and the finished skins come in an extremely wide variety of colours.
Several machines are used in the processing of alligator and crocodile leather. The first machine reduces the thickness of the leather by shaving part of the back from the finished skin. This results in leather that is much easier to work with, for such things as wallets and purses, where thick leather would not be desirable. The skins are also tumbled in a tanning drum. The action of the drum softens the leather, preparing it for use.
The applications for this high quality, extremely durable leather are truly limitless.

Sting Ray
In Thailand, sting ray leather is used in wallets and belts in the same way as regular cow leather. Sting ray leather is as tough and durable as hard plastic. The leather is often dyed black and covered with tiny round bumps in the natural pattern of the back ridge of an animal. These bumps are then usually dyed white to highlight the decoration.

Snake
Snakeskin's used to produce leather, range from pythons and cobras to sea snakes.
There are 8 steps to process snakeskin into leather.
They are: Skinning, stripping the skin from the flesh; Fleshing, the meat is scraped from the tail to the head; Relaxing, where the skin is dried, the skin is soaked in salt solution until the snakeskin becomes soft and flexible. After that, they are rinsed and placed in a pickling solution; Pickling, a mix of vinegar, water and salt, in which the snake skin is processed for 2-3 days; Tanning, where the snakeskin is rinsed and squeezed, then soaked in the tanning solution; Descaling, after the tanning, the snakeskin is rinsed in cold water and crumpled by hand, and the scales fall away; Oiling, a solution of hot water and oiling component is rubbed onto the flesh side of the snakeskin; And Finishing, where the snakeskin is flattened, the oil solution soaks in, then the snakeskin is dried, being worked when it is almost dry to soften it.

Shark
Shark leather is very tough, from 7 to 11 times stronger than cowhide. Because the shark leather is so beautiful and durable, it is great for people looking for real quality.
Shark skin is made up of rough, hard placoid scales. These are tiny, but vary widely in their shape. The untanned skins are 'shagreen', which used to be used for polishing and for armour. Nowadays, in Germany and France particularly, shark leather is used for furniture, book binding, shoes, wallets, jewellery and handbags. In Japan, shark skin is used for the diverse texture and speckled colours for purses, handbags, Japanese sandals, watch straps, etc.