What determines if an animal hide can be used in textiles?

Thickness – - – Octopus skin is too thin and some others.

But leather / textile include:

Lizard
Alligator
Shark
Horse
Sheep
Goat
Cow
Pig
Snake . . .

@Tropical_Willie nailed it (GA BTW). the thickness is usually the deciding factor. He did forget Naugas ;-)

Taught leather-crafting in a Psych hospital, wallets, chamois vest, belts, moccasins and pocketbooks including tooling and plaiting (binding on edge of wallets and pocketbooks).

I worked with a guy that came into work one day with some really fancy boots. The conversation went like this:

Me: “Those are some nice boots. Are they alligator?”
Him: “No, their fake.”
Me: “so they’re just leather?”
Him: “No, I told you, they are fake.”
Me: “Oh, so they’re Naugahyde?”
Him: “No, I told you! They ain’t no kinda hide….they’re FAKE!”

How could I answer that?

So – fine Corinthian leather (plastic)?

You don’t want it to be a porcupine