leather...
Sorry I dont have the hide square ft/mtr number for you...But...be aware that automotive and residential leather/hides (Sofa, wing chair, etc...) are completely different. In the old days of Connally hides in Jags and Rolls and such, the leather was top grain, and had almost no "protection", but the tanning process with some pretty bad chemicals, and things like saddle soap with lanolin and oils was what you had with dyed pigments...Tan me hide when I've died, Clyde...
Automotive leather today is seldom top grain, and is a veneer of sorts, or splits as they are called, that are embossed and opaquely top coated with pigment to be tan, black, etc. Good news is that they are durable. Few cleaners will hurt them, few conditioners do anything to make them better.
If you say that your are shopping hides in SA, (thats the best place for it), but you either need to shop automotive (if your car will spend some time in the sun) leather/hides, or what you will get will not stand up to the UV with out protection. If your car will sit in your living room and you'll watch rugby on the tele, a waxy full anilyne-dyed top grain will be sublime...
Leather prices in the world have gone crazy, as (especially) SA beef farmers are not getting the money they expect, and thus less beef sold means less hides available on the market, and even a non-business major like me knows what that means...
I design residential furniture, especially upholstery and leather upholstery...I don't know everything, I just think that I do..that's what she says, anyway...
Good luck!
Dave V. in NC/USA
