Leather production- dirty jobs in Morocco

[P5640blouson]

I saw a pretty dirty job on youtube about fine leather production in morocco. It beats anything Mike Rowe would do. It's amazing how tanneries have evolved in Europe and U.S. compared to some places. Using bird poop to tan and bathing in vats with the hides in order to work the hides. It's amazingly dirty...

 

[feltfan]

I have a dromedary leather bag from the tannery in Marrakesh.
Looks great and holds up incredibly well. But it has been about 7 years
since I brought it home and if you put your nose on it, it still smells
pretty nasty from that tanning technique.

Nevertheless, cool leather and I regret not buying more leather
products when I was there. The bag was from a souk (traditional
market). I got a wallet from a higher end store there, too, and it
was never smelly.

Two caveats- there is no shortage of child labor in the making of
Moroccan crafts. And given the smell, you really don't want a jacket
made of that leather, no matter how cool it looks.