You'd be surprised the first time you see a full hide. Not only are they much larger than you think, they vary much more than you'd expect too.
Leather from different parts of the animal varies in its characteristics, and this has to be taken into account when using leather in products. The hide thickness varies all over the animal, and to get it to the right thickness it is usually split on a special cutting machine or buffed to an even thickness. The main parts of the hide are shown in the diagram below
Shoulder- the shoulder is thick and strong but tends to crease easily as this part of the hide is affected by movements of the head
Butt- the fibres in this part of the hide are tightly packed and hence the strongest part of the hide
Belly- this part of the hide is quite thin and has a much looser fibre structure than the back, and often stretches under stress.
Axillae- these are like the human armpits - they move a lot - so the fibre structure is quite loose, making it even more prone to loosening than the belly areas.
From Hide to Hair
Different parts of a hide have different properties in terms of strength, flexibility and durability. This makes some parts of a hide more suitable for use in sofa manufacturing than others.