Horween Leather Company

{{Short description|American company}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2013}} {{Infobox company | name = Horween Leather Company | logo = File:Horween Leather Co. Logo.png | caption = | trading_name =  | native_name =  | native_name_lang =  | type = Private | traded_as = | industry = Leather tannery | genre =  | fate = | predecessor = | successor = | foundation = Chicago, Illinois ({{Start date and age|1905}}) | founder = Isadore Horween | defunct =  | location_city = 2015 North Elston Avenue, Chicago, Illinois | location_country = United States | locations =  | area_served = | key_people = | products = | production = | services = | revenue = $25 million (2012)<ref name="businessweek1">{{cite news|url=http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-05-16/horween-leather-faces-an-uncertain-futurebusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708131028/http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-05-16/horween-leather-faces-an-uncertain-futurebusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 8, 2012 |author=Howard Wolinsky |title=Horween Leather Faces an Uncertain Future |work=Business Week |date=May 16, 2008 |accessdate=March 26, 2013 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="gentlemansgazette1">{{cite news |first=Sven Raphael |last=Schneider |url=http://www.gentlemansgazette.com/horween-leather-company-chicago/ |title=Horween Leather Company Chicago |work=Gentleman's Gazette |date=March 21, 2012 |accessdate=March 27, 2013}}</ref> | operating_income = | net_income = | aum =  | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = 160 (2012)<ref name="gentlemansgazette1"/> | parent = | divisions = | subsid = | homepage ={{URL|http://www.horween.com}} | footnotes = | intl = }} '''Horween Leather Company''' is an American company specializing in the manufacturing and refining of leather and related products. It is one of the oldest continuously running tanneries in the United States. Since its founding in the early 20th century it has been located in Chicago.<ref name="gentlemansgazette1"/><ref name="haberdashmen1">{{cite news|url=http://haberdashmen.com/2013/01/12/horween-leather-co/ |author=Tom Gavin |title=Welcome to the Time Machine; Tom Gavin Visits Horween Leather Co. |work=Haberdashmen.com |date=January 12, 2013 |accessdate=March 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513093701/http://haberdashmen.com/2013/01/12/horween-leather-co/ |archive-date=May 13, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="chicagotribune2003">{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/10/27/horweens-leather-bound-by-tradition/ |first=Barbara |last=Rolek |title=Horween's leather bound by tradition |work=Chicago Tribune |date=October 27, 2003 |access-date=March 27, 2013 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=May 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513162245/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-10-27/business/0310270217_1_bob-clevenhagen-rawlings-glove |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/may2008/sb20080516_545063.htm?campaign_id=rss_smlbz |work=Business Week |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518083337/http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/may2008/sb20080516_545063.htm?campaign_id=rss_smlbz |archive-date=May 18, 2008 |url-status=dead |first=Howard |last=Wolinsky |date=May 16, 2008 |title=Horween Leather Faces an Uncertain Future}}</ref><ref name="Nuzum1954">{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/515328962.html?dids=515328962:515328962&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+30%2C+1954&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=%27Pigskin%27+They%27re+Kicking+Is+Cow&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411161033/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/515328962.html?dids=515328962:515328962&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+30,+1954&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc='Pigskin'+They're+Kicking+Is+Cow&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 11, 2013 |first=Thomas |last=Nuzum|title='Pigskin' They're Kicking is Cow |work=Chicago Tribune |date=September 30, 1954 |accessdate=March 26, 2013}}</ref>

Isadore Horween founded the company in 1905, and worked in it until 1949. His two sons, Arnold Horween (chairman and president; 1949–1984) and Ralph Horween, became executives of the company and worked in it after their careers as All American football players for the Harvard Crimson, and playing in the National Football League.

Arnold's son Arnold Horween Jr. worked with it from 1953 to 2003, and his son Arnold "Skip" Horween III has worked with it since 1972. The fifth generation of Horweens, Nicholas (Nick) Arnold Horween, has worked at the company since 2009.

Horween Leather Company offers an array of tannages using primarily cowhide and horsehide, and also using smaller quantities of calf and bison hides. Its leather is used in a number of products including sports equipment, sports and casual footwear, bags, wallets, briefcases, belts, coats, jackets, and other apparel and accessories.<ref name="encyclopedia1">{{cite book |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3479900049.html |title=Horween Leather Company |publisher=encyclopedia.com |accessdate=January 20, 2016 |archive-date=July 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718184440/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3479900049.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It is known for its production of Shell Cordovan (the ''Chicago Tribune'' called it the "Cordovan capital of the world"), professional football leather, and Chromexcel, among other leathers.<ref name="chicagotribune2003"/><ref name="Arena1991">{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-12-08-9104200812-story.html |first=Stephanie |last=Arena |title=Leather Land: At Horween Tannery, Cordovan has Been King for 86 Years |work=Chicago Tribune |date=December 8, 1991 |accessdate=October 1, 2019 |archive-date=October 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002005717/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-12-08-9104200812-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It is the exclusive supplier of leather for National Football League footballs, and also supplies the leather that is used for National Basketball Association basketballs.

Horween Leather Company is located in a five-story block-long factory at 2015 North Elston Avenue, at Ashland Avenue near the Chicago River.

==History==

===1905–1948=== [[File:Isadore Horween and family.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Rose Horween, Ralph Horween, Arnold Horween, and Isidore Horween]] Isadore Horween (whose surname was originally Horwitz or Horowitz),<ref>{{cite book |url=http://pjn.library.cmu.edu/books/CALL1/CRI_1926_067_021_04021926/vol0/part0/copy0/ocr/txt/0008.txt |author=Charles H. Joseph |title=18M |publisher=The Jewish Criterion |year=1926 |accessdate=March 25, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213071629/http://pjn.library.cmu.edu/books/CALL1/CRI_1926_067_021_04021926/vol0/part0/copy0/ocr/txt/0008.txt |archive-date=December 13, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name="profootballresearchers1">{{cite web|url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/18-06-680.pdf|title=Ralph Horween|work=profootballresearchers.org|accessdate=March 25, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218205508/http://profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/18-06-680.pdf|archive-date=December 18, 2010|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=culCAAAAIAAJ&q=Ralph+Horween |title=The Jew in sports |author=Stanley Bernard Frank |publisher=The Miles Publishing Company |year=1936 |accessdate=March 22, 2013}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yfSsthTaa2gC&dq=Ralph+Horween&pg=PA131 |title=For Pride, Profit, and Patriarchy: Football and the Incorporation of American Cultural Values|author=Gerald R. Gems |publisher= Scarecrow Press |year=2000 |accessdate=March 22, 2013|isbn=9780810836853}}</ref> who had learned the leather business in his native Ukraine, lived just outside Kiev, immigrated to the United States in 1893. He obtained his first job at a tannery in the U.S. through a contact he made at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://horween.com/about/timeline/ |title=Timeline « Horween Leather Company |work=Horween.com |accessdate=March 28, 2013 |archive-date=March 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130317033231/http://horween.com/about/timeline/ |url-status=live }}</ref> For 12 years he worked in one of the then-two-dozen tanneries in Chicago.<ref name="gentlemansgazette1"/><ref name="mascontext1">{{cite web |url=http://www.mascontext.com/tag/horween-leather-co/ |title=Horween Leather Co |work=Mas Context |date=January 1, 1920 |accessdate=March 27, 2013 |archive-date=January 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130119120005/http://www.mascontext.com/tag/horween-leather-co/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

He founded I. Horween and Co. in 1905, and established it on Division Street in Chicago.<ref name="businessweek1"/><ref name="mascontext1"/><ref name="Arena1991"/><ref name="google1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gw3_obTNh4QC&dq=%22Horween+Leather+Company%22&pg=PA377 |title=NFL Head Coaches: A Biographical Dictionary, 1920–2011 |author=John Maxymuk |publisher= McFarland|year=2012 |accessdate=March 26, 2013|isbn=9780786465576 }}</ref> At the time, Chicago was a major center of the meatpacking industry and a major rail hub.<ref name="mascontext1"/><ref name="horween1">{{cite web|url=http://horween.com/about/a-brief-history/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705053917/http://horween.com/about/a-brief-history/ |archive-date=July 5, 2013|title=A Brief History « Horween Leather Company |work=Horween.com |accessdate=January 20, 2016}}</ref> The tanneries were built close to the source of raw materials. In 1911, Isadore Horween developed and produced Aniline Chromexcel, one of the company's most traditional tannages.<ref name="horween1"/>

The company's original focus was the production of razor strops, to sharpen razors used in shaving.<ref name="mascontext1"/> With the advent of the safety razor in 1912, however, the need for razor strops waned, and the company shifted its focus to other products.<ref name="mascontext1"/>

In 1920, the company moved to its current location in a five-story block-long factory at 2015 North Elston Avenue (at Ashland Avenue), on the Chicago River, in Chicago's Bucktown, on the north side of the city.<ref name="reuters2007">{{cite news |last=Burgdorfer |first=Bob |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/lifestyle-livestock-usa-hides-dc-idUKN0237812520070503 |title=Passion for leather has made cowhides a hot item |work=Uk.reuters.com |date=May 3, 2007 |access-date=March 26, 2013 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305182624/http://uk.reuters.com/article/lifestyle-livestock-usa-hides-dc-idUKN0237812520070503 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BVtZAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Horween+Leather%22±%22Horween+Leather+Company%22 |title=UFCW Action |publisher=United Food and Commercial Workers International Union |year=1992 |accessdate=March 26, 2013}}</ref> Isadore Horween had obtained the site, which remains the company's current location, by purchasing it from Herman Loescher and Sons tannery.<ref name="horween1"/> The company's name was eventually changed to Horween Leather Company.<ref name="horween1"/><ref name="pqarchiver1985"/>

[[File:Ralph Horween 2.jpg|thumb|Ralph Horween; he was the company's secretary and treasurer, in between his stints playing football at Harvard and in the NFL alongside his brother Arnold Horween]] In 1921, the company's secretary and treasurer was Isadore's son Ralph Horween, during Ralph's career as a football player for the Harvard Crimson and before his career as a player and coach in the National Football League. In 1945, he was still secretary of the company.<ref name="pqarchiver1985">{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/25035156.html?dids=25035156:25035156&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:FT&type=current&date=Aug+07%2C+1985&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=ARNOLD+HORWEEN&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411161930/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/25035156.html?dids=25035156:25035156&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:FT&type=current&date=Aug+07,+1985&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=ARNOLD+HORWEEN&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 11, 2013 |title=Arnold Horween |work=Chicago Tribune |date=August 7, 1985 |accessdate=March 26, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-k1AQAAMAAJ&q=%22Horween+Leather%22±%22Horween+Leather+Company%22 |title=The Shoe and Leather Reporter Annual |publisher= Shoe & Leather Reporter Company|year=1921 |accessdate=March 26, 2013}}</ref>

In 1927, Horween Leather Company sold the tannery on Division Street, and consolidated its operations at North Elston Avenue.<ref name="horween1"/> In 1930, it developed mechanical leather, a very durable heavyweight leather for use in oil seals, gaskets, and engine seals.<ref name="horween1"/> In 1936, the company had 336 workers.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/471844342.html?dids=471844342:471844342&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+07%2C+1943&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=RWLB+BOOSTS+STANDARD+OIL+WORKERS%27+PAY&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411173154/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/471844342.html?dids=471844342:471844342&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+07,+1943&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=RWLB+BOOSTS+STANDARD+OIL+WORKERS'+PAY&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 11, 2013 |title=Rwlb Boosts Standard Oil Workers' Pay |work=Chicago Tribune |date=September 7, 1943 |accessdate=March 26, 2013}}</ref>

In 1938, Horween Leather Company became the official leather supplier for U.S. Marine Corps water-resistant footwear during World War II. It supplied Chromoexcel, which was used exclusively in the North African Campaign.<ref name="encyclopedia1"/><ref name="horween1"/> In 1941, it added a large addition to the tannery.<ref name="horween1"/>

===1949–1984=== Isadore's son Arnold Horween eventually took over the company business, after his career as a football player at Harvard alongside his brother Ralph, and then again with his brother as player-coaches in the National Football League, and finally as Harvard's head football coach. He ran the company as chairman and President, from 1949 to 1984.<ref name="google1"/><ref name="pqarchiver1985"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oMEbAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Horween+Leather%22±%22Horween+Leather+Company%22 |author= Leo M. Glassman|title=Biographical encyclopaedia of American Jews, 1935 |publisher= Maurice Jacobs & Leo Glassman|year=1935 |accessdate=March 26, 2013}}</ref>

In 1960, the company developed and offered football leather as it is made and sold today.<ref name="horween1"/> In 1978 there were 250 tanneries in the U.S., but by 2005 the number had dropped to approximately 20.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AT&p_theme=at&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=1093EABD9A64255B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=Baseball 2005: Total Commitment: Glove affair; Tradition-bound Rawlings, in an age of overseas mass production, still cherishes its custom work |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |date=April 3, 2005 |accessdate=March 26, 2013 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

===1985–present=== In 1985, Arnold Jr., Isadore's grandson, succeeded his father as Horween Leather Company's chief executive.<ref name="encyclopedia1"/> In 1990, the company developed and offered waterproof lines of leathers.<ref name="horween1"/>

Arnold, Jr.'s son Arnold "Skip" Horween III, Isadore's great-grandson, joined as treasurer that year, and became vice president in 1995.<ref name="encyclopedia1"/> In 2001, Skip Horween took over running the company, and in 2002 he became president.<ref name="encyclopedia1"/><ref name="reuters2007"/> The company is now run by the fourth generation, with the fifth generation also in house.<ref name="businessweek1"/>

In 2003, the company began supplying leather for the Arena Football League.<ref name="encyclopedia1"/> In 2005, the company had sales of over $35 million.<ref name="encyclopedia1"/> In 2006, it became the only tannery in Chicago; at one time, the city had as many as 40.<ref name="haberdashmen1"/>

As of 2012, Horween Leather Company had 160 employees, and annual revenues of approximately $25 million.<ref name="gentlemansgazette1"/> In a typical week, it processes 4,000 cowhides and 1,000 horsehides into {{convert|120000|sqft|m2}} of leather.<ref name="gentlemansgazette1"/> As of 2013, Horween Leather Company was one of fewer than a dozen tanneries in the U.S., down from over 250 in 1978.<ref name="haberdashmen1"/><ref name="horween1"/>

===The Horween family===

The following reflects each generation of the Horween family that worked in the company: * Isadore Horween, 1905–1949 * Arnold Horween, 1922–1984 (Chairman & President 1949–1984)<ref name="pqarchiver1985"/> * Arnold Horween Jr., 1953–2003<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/chicagotribune/name/arnold-horween-obituary?id=2357015 |title=Horween Jr., Arnold |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=May 11, 2003 |accessdate=March 26, 2013}}</ref> * Arnold (Skip) Horween III, 1972–present<ref name="businessweek1"/> * Nicholas (Nick) Arnold Horween, 2009–present<ref>{{cite news |first=Brigid |last=Sweeney |date=February 18, 2012 |url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120218/ISSUE03/302189985/no-more-hiding-for-local-tannery-riding-pricey-leather-revival |title=No more hiding for local tannery riding pricey leather revival |work=Crain's Chicago Business |accessdate=March 29, 2013 |archive-date=April 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428011335/http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120218/ISSUE03/302189985/no-more-hiding-for-local-tannery-riding-pricey-leather-revival |url-status=live }}</ref>

==The tanning process== About 85% of the leather at Horween Leather Company is made from cowhide.<ref name="gentlemansgazette1"/> The company's workers take raw hides, which arrive salted to prevent deterioration, trim them, and remove their hair with chemicals in an extremely large washing drum. The leather is then treated with salt and pickled for 24 hours, so that it reaches a desired pH level. It is then bated, tanned, and finished.<ref name="gentlemansgazette1"/><ref name="chicagotribune2003"/>

==Products== Horween Leather Company produces many different full grain and corrected grain leathers. Its leather is used in a number of products including footwear, sports equipment, bags, belts, wallets, briefcases, suitcases, jackets, coats, and other apparel and accessories.<ref name="gentlemansgazette1"/><ref name="encyclopedia1"/><ref name="reuters2007"/> As of 2003, 60% of the company's leather was used to make clothes, shoes, and accessories, and 40% for sporting goods such as footballs, basketballs, and baseball gloves.<ref name="chicagotribune2003"/>

Horween Leather Company supplies leather shells for footwear to the Timberland Company, Alden Shoe Company (their largest cordovan customer; it became a customer in 1930, buying shell cordovan and other leathers), Cole Haan, Allen Edmonds, Nomad Goods, Brooks Brothers, Hanover Shoe, Chippewa Boots and Johnston & Murphy.<ref name="gentlemansgazette1"/><ref name="chicagotribune2003"/><ref name="encyclopedia1"/><ref name="horween1"/> Accessories and leather goods customers include J.Crew and Shinola Detroit.

===Sporting goods=== [[File:Wilson American football.jpg|thumb|A Wilson modern American football, as used in the National Football League]] [[Image:Spalding-Platinum-ZKPro.jpg|thumb|A Spalding basketball, as used in the National Basketball Association]]

Horween Leather Company has provided Rawlings with leather since 1929.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/768252861.html?dids=768252861:768252861&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+19%2C+2004&author=William+Hageman&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Take+him+back+to+the+ball+game&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411163343/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/768252861.html?dids=768252861:768252861&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+19,+2004&author=William+Hageman&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Take+him+back+to+the+ball+game&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 11, 2013 |author= William Hageman |title=Take him back to the ball game |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=December 19, 2004 |accessdate=March 26, 2013}}</ref> In 2003, Horween was providing leather for 3,000 Rawlings baseball gloves annually, and half of professional baseball players were using baseball gloves made from Horween leather.<ref name="chicagotribune2003"/>

Wilson Sporting Goods is Horween Leather Company's largest customer, using the company's leather in manufacturing footballs and basketballs.<ref name="businessweek1"/> Horween Leather Company has supplied Wilson with pebbled cowhide since 1941.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MWSB&p_theme=mwsb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=120F68CA56273420&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |author=John Schmid |title=Getting a grip |work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |date=May 28, 2008 |accessdate=March 26, 2013 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305020051/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MWSB&p_theme=mwsb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=120F68CA56273420&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since 1941, Horween Leather Company has been the exclusive supplier of leather for National Football League footballs.<ref name="google3">{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g88DAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Horween+Leather%22±%22Horween+Leather+Company%22&pg=PA67 |author=Scott Oldham |title=Bombs Away|journal=Popular Mechanics |date=October 2001 |accessdate=March 26, 2013 |page=67}}</ref><ref name="google1"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.profootballhof.com/story/2012/5/17/the-nfls-centenarians/ |title=The NFL's centenarians |work=Pro Football Hall of Fame |date=February 7, 2010 |accessdate=March 27, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014175541/http://www.profootballhof.com/story/2012/5/17/the-nfls-centenarians/ |archive-date=October 14, 2013}}</ref> The arrangement was established initially by Arnold Horween, who had played and coached in the NFL.<ref name="gentlemansgazette1"/> The company uses its own "Tanned in Tack" process.<ref name="google3"/><ref name="google1"/> Although footballs are often called "pigskins," they are made from Horween Leather Company-supplied steer hides that are embossed with a pebble pattern.<ref name="businessweek1"/><ref name="google3"/><ref name="google2"/><ref name="Nuzum1954"/> The company also supplies the leather for the game balls made for the Canadian Football League,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wilson.com/en-us/football/footballs/nfl/nfl-duke/official-cfl-game-leather-football-official-size |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421030548/http://www.wilson.com/en-us/football/footballs/nfl/nfl-duke/official-cfl-game-leather-football-official-size |archive-date=April 21, 2018 |url-status=dead |accessdate=December 17, 2017 |title=CFL Game Football |work=Wilson Sporting Goods}}</ref> and they also supply leather to Spalding (a division of Russell Corporation) for indoor Arena Football League footballs.<ref name="encyclopedia1"/> Horween Leather Company's leather is also used to make National Basketball Association basketballs, made by Spalding<ref name="businessweek1"/> until 2021, and currently by Wilson Sporting Goods.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Greif |first=Andrew |date=September 27, 2021 |title=NBA is switching official game ball to Wilson brand |website=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-09-27/nba-switches-official-game-ball-to-wilson-brand |access-date=June 28, 2022 |archive-date=June 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628141350/https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-09-27/nba-switches-official-game-ball-to-wilson-brand |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Hydrogen sulfide gas release == On February 14, 1978, a driver making a delivery to Horween of a tanker truck filled with sodium hydrosulfide ignored signs and approached the wrong storage tank.<ref>{{Cite news|date=February 15, 1978|title=Gas cloud kills 7 and fells 28 in Chicago|page=2|work=New York Daily News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=February 20, 1978|title=Error Was Deadly to Seven|work=New York Daily News}}</ref> When the driver was unable at first to connect the tanker's hose to the storage tank, which was designed to prevent accidental mixing, he connected his own homemade coupling and was able to begin delivering the sodium hydrosulfide. The homemade coupling was later impounded by the Chicago Police Department.<ref name="Wattley 3">{{Cite news|last=Wattley|first=Philip|date=February 16, 1978|title=8 fume deaths laid to worker error|page=3|work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> The tank contained an acid chrome tanning liquor, and the resulting mixture immediately created a large amount of deadly hydrogen sulfide gas.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Enstad|first=Robert|date=February 15, 1978|title=35 injured by fumes at tannery|page=1|work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> Workers began collapsing as the gas spread through the building.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Keegan|first=Anne|date=February 16, 1978|title='Didn't know what hit us:' employes|page=1|work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> Eight workers died and 35 were injured.<ref name="Wattley 3"/><ref>{{Cite news|date=February 16, 1978|title=8th Death in Factory Accident|page=A21|work=The New York Times}}</ref> The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the company for failing to train employees in handling dangerous chemicals or in emergency evacuation procedures.<ref>{{Cite news|date=March 2, 1978|title=Tannery cited for hazards in fume fatalities|page=|at=sec. 3, p. 8|work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== * [http://www.horween.com/ Horween Company website]

Category:Buildings and structures in Chicago Category:Manufacturing companies based in Chicago Category:Leather manufacturers Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1905 Category:Tanneries Category:Industrial buildings and structures in Illinois Category:1905 establishments in Illinois