Kirza () is an early

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n type of

artificial leather Artificial leather, also called synthetic leather, is a material intended to substitute for leather in upholstery, clothing, footwear, and other uses where a leather-like finish is desired but the actual material is cost prohibitive or unsuitab ...

based on a multi-layer textile fabric, modified by membrane-like substances. It consisted of cotton, latex and rosin. It was produced mainly in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The surface of kirza imitates pig leather. The material is mainly used in the production of military boots, where it is a cheap and effective replacement for natural leather. It is also used in the production of belts for machinery and automobiles. The Kirza SK high boots were named by soldiers as 'shit trampers'. It is also used in

holsters A handgun holster is a device used to hold or restrict the undesired movement of a handgun, most commonly in a location where it can be easily withdrawn for immediate use. Holsters are often attached to a belt or waistband, but they may be atta ...

Etymology

While some English dictionaries translate ''кирза'' as ''kersey,'' this is incorrect, as kersey is a material of natural origin known since the Middle Ages. However, kersey was used in the production of the first kirza. According to a popular legend, the name ''kirza'' is an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for ''Kirovskiy zavod'' (''Kirov factory''), a factory producing artificial leather located near Kirov. However, the actual name of the factory was ''IsKozh'' (an acronym for "Iskusstvennaya Kozha" - artificial leather), and the legend is simply an example of

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

History

In 1904, Mikhail Pomortsev invented the original leather substitute. He used a mixture of egg yolk, rosin and paraffin wax to impregnate kersey. Despite receiving several awards in Russia and abroad, it was not used due to

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

by leather boot manufacturers. It remained expensive, despite the demand, until the invention of synthetic latex in the early 1930s which replaced the initial impregnating mixture. During 1920s and 1930s, Aleksandr M. Khomutov and Ivan Plotnikov developed a new material called ''Kirza SK''. Kirza SK is a pig leather imitation based on multi-layer coarse cotton fabric, impregnated by a film-forming synthetic rubber type substance involving a vacuum manufacturing process, which produced a fabric that is impervious to water, yet with a breathable membrane to let air through. Kirza was first used in 1936-1937 and authorized to replace leather goods in 1940. The Red Army trialed boots with kirza SK uppers during the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

but it proved unfit for winter conditions, and production was halted. In 1941, as technology improved, mass production was resumed to meet demand for army boots during the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

. Plotnikov became the chief engineer for the supply of kirza SK boots to the army. On 10 April 1942, Aleksandr Khomutov, Ivan Plotnikov and seven other specialists were awarded the 2nd Degree Stalin Prize for their invention of the new kirza production technology. By the end of the war, an estimated ten million Soviet soldiers were wearing kirza boots. Kirza has remained in production in

and in several other countries. About 85% of the kirza produced in Russia is used in military boots (including modern

combat boot Combat or tactical boots are military boots designed to be worn by soldiers during combat or combat training, as opposed to during parades and other ceremonial duties. Modern combat boots are designed to provide a combination of grip, ankle ...

s). Most modern kirza boots are produced from a combination of 85% kirza and 15% of specially prepared natural leather (the so-called ''yuft'' or ''

Russia leather Russia leather ( or ''yuft'') is a particular form of bark-tanned cow leather. It is distinguished from other types of leather by a processing step that takes place after tanning, where birch oil is worked into the rear face of the leather. This p ...

''). About 150 million pairs of kirza footwear have been produced up to the present day.

References

{{Leather Footwear Technical fabrics Artificial leather Soviet Army Soviet inventions

Etymology

History

See also

References