Horween Football Leather
Horween Football Leather
Jun 27, 2022 - Daytime Chicago goes inside the Horween Leather Company
February 5, 2021
Move over Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady…
The real stars of this weekend’s big game are the footballs. Here are a few interesting facts about this historic Horween leather.
1 - Did you know that Horween Football leather has been used in every “Big Game” to date? This year will be the 55th!
2 - Horween has produced football leather continuously for more than 70 years.
3 - Horween Football leather was developed and produced by Arnold Horween Sr. after playing football professionally and head coaching the Harvard football team.
Arnold Horween Sr (left) Arnold Horween Jr (right)….both Harvard football players.
Arnold Horween Sr (left), Knute Rockne (middle) - Head Coach at Notre Dame
4 - The texture on a football happens through embossing the leather. The Wilson NFL ball is embossed with a proprietary print that includes the Wilson logo.
Football leather before embossing (left) and after embossing (right).
Look closely to see the embossed “W”
Embossing machine
5 - Wilson supplies 25,000 footballs to the NFL teams per year (Sports Illustrated). Each team uses around 780 footballs per year.
6 - Official Football leather has a tack, which allows for better gripping. This is achieved through a process called Tanned in Tack®, which infuses the tack into the leather. If the tack wears down, you can simply brush the ball to bring back the tacky feel.
7 - Many people think of footballs as brown, but the color of the football actually depends on the brand. Different brands use different shades of leather that can range from dark brown to an orangey-red color. Horween has also made football leather in Brown, Blue, Green, Black.
8 - Sports Illustrated wrote an article about this in 2019: From Farm to Field, and Every Point Between: How A Cow Becomes a Football. Read it here.
9 - The Tannery Row sells sides of football leather. Yes, you can use it to make wallets, bags, belts, shoes and other leather goods.
Examples of leather goods made from Horween Football leather
Limited Edition Timberland Boots (Picture from @ycmc)
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Email us any questions you have about Horween Football Leather!