E-Leather, from the company of the same name, is leather, but not in a form that a cow ever wore. It’s a unique blend of untanned leather shavings and textiles that the Peterborough, England company has been developing over a period of 10 years. The product was introduced to the aviation industry at the Aircraft Interiors Expo 2007
in Hamburg, Germany.

It looks like leather, smells like leather and has much of the natural feel of leather. But there are also some advantages; it’s stronger–and lighter in weight–than leather, has no natural defects, comes in nine-foot-wide rolls up to 1,000 feet long, resulting in about 5-percent cutting waste compared with 18- to 40-percent waste with natural hides. According to the company, the color consistency is superior to that of “real” leather. At about $28 per square yard, the price is also attractive.