Describes a method for the determination of extractable metals in leather using extraction with an acid artificial-perspiration solution and subsequent determination with inductively coupled plasma/optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), or inductively coupled plasma/atomic emission spectrometry (ICP/AES), or inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (ICP/MS), or atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) or spectrometry of atomic fluorescence (SFA).