There are few stories more tragic and redemptive than the bison also known as the buffalo. It is said that a few hundred years ago if you had roamed from the East to the West of North America, you would return to your homeland speaking of the bison. They were the symbol of the land in many ways, including the natives who lived and thrived through the use of the bison.
They roamed the grasslands of America in herds numbering tens of thousands. So numerous were they during the American settlers heading West that it was said they could travel by wagon for an entire day and never pass the herd.
By the 19th century due to commercial hunting by many of the Easterner’s desire to have a piece of the West in a fashionable robe or hide, they became nearly extinct. With the tension and wars between the Natives of the land and the new settlers, the bison or buffalo were seen as related to “savages.” Instead of honoring the animal, man welcomes its destruction. The preferred meat was the European cows brought over. Even though the bison was a much more hardy animal and better suited to its natural landscape, it was never seen as an animal to be respected. Reduced to nearly a few hundred by the mid-1880s. It is one of the great tragedies that animals so symbolic of the region almost were wiped out.
Due to conservation efforts by many, including the National Parks and Theodore Roosevelt, the few remaining bison were preserved and re-introduced into National Parks to breed. They have since become a great success story in our country with their re-population.
What makes the bison such a wonderful leather for shoes is their genetics. Since leather is a product of the animal, it’s important to think about the function of those animals. While cows have been readily available brought over by our European ancestors, they are more frail animals. But the buffalo can survive in freezing climates reaching -50 degrees in the Dakota during a winter or up to 110 degrees in the Arizona hot climate. This survivability and adaptability is part of the hide. It provides the unique hide fiber structure that after thousands of centuries became the perfect leather that was resilient and tough.
When it comes to a shoe, you need rigid leather that will hold its form but also stretch to the individual’s feet. This is what makes bison leather so unique. While cow leather has horizontal fibers, bison hides and leather has an interlocking fiber structure so it stretches out, and then after its use fits back together. It is truly the ultimate leather for shoes.