Dinosaur Leather™
Dinosaur Leather™ is the most popular clothing material in The Reek, and the distinctive smell of the national tannery earned the region its name.
Created from the DNA of domesticated triceratops, authentic Dinosaur Leather™ is marketed throughout Eden as a 100% harm-free but 100% real alternative to both traditional and synthetic leathers.
Properties
Material Characteristics
Strong, flexible, and durable, tanned dinosaur hides feel smooth against the skin—but with just enough coarseness to them that you can tell they’re real.
Dinosaur Leather™, the primary brand on the market, also claims that its products will put wearers back in touch with their primal, animal selves. The spirit of the animal lives on in the fabric, they say, even though they are also quick to point out that the fabric didn’t come from a living, breathing triceratops. It’s the spirit of the original animal, they say, the one from ages ago that they cloned.
And when you try to ask them a follow-up on that bit of equivocating at the press conference, they call on someone else for the next question.
Origin & Source
Though it’s theoretically possible to tan any dinosaur’s hide for use as a leather, Dinosaur Leather™ uses only authentic triceratops skin—the only type able to be ethically sourced. Because trikes were cloned by dwarven scientists during the domestication process, their DNA is readily available for importing into the proprietary 3D printers used by the Cretaceous Corporation.
History & Usage
Everyday use
Dinosaur Leather™ is popular amongst both fetishists and individuals in the rugged professions—“[d]ue to its excellent resistance to abrasion and wind” (Wikipedia). But the average citizen of Democratic Republic of the Reek owns at least one leather garment as well, and usually more.
Cultural Significance and Usage
The Aünupa, in particular, delight in wearing Dinosaur Leather™. They believe it connects them back to the Bekiskapan culture they unabashedly emulate and copy. The Bekiskapan lived in a world full of dinosaurs, after all, and with the Vale of Thunder—home to all of Eden’s extant dinosaur species—off limits to all but the wealthiest of Reekian tourists, wearing Dinosaur Leather™ is the closest an Aünupan can get to the wildness of the past.
Distribution
Law & Regulation
The Cretaceous Corporation, together with the Accidental Unicorns, lobbied long and hard with The Council of Five to ban the sale of non-Dinosaur Leather™ dinosaur hides. And though members of the Council tabled the discussion time after time, believing it little more than an attempt by Cretaceous Corp to establish a monopoly, they were eventually swayed by the relentless public opinion campaign waged by the Accidental Unicorns.
Today in Eden, only Dinosaur Leather™ is allowed to be sold legally. A genetically engineered biomarker is added to every Dinosaur Leather™ product to allow for easy and unobtrusive scanning by law enforcement.
How well does Dinosaur Leather™ take to dyes?
Oh, very well indeed. The Aünupa love dying it in the most preposterous colors they can.
As god intended