Ethiopian highland hair sheep skins have a wide importance mainly as a source ofrnforeign exchange to the country from the leather industry. The consumption of thesernproducts is high for reasons of high quality to make glove, cabretta as well as for sportrngoods leathers.rnrnThe present work describes the study on characterization of the Ethiopian highlandrnhair sheep skin by carrying out histological analysis using light microscope andrnscanning electron microscope (SEM). Indian hair sheep skin has been used forrncomparing the characteristics features. Various features of the Ethiopian highlandrnsheep and Indian red hair sheep skins such as thickness distribution of the skin, layersrnin the epidermal area, fibre size, fibre orientation and the interweave in the dermalrnarea, the hair pore count and grain to corium ratio have been determined. rnIn addition to this physico-chemical characteristics of hair sheep skins have beenrnanalyzed using different equipment and procedures. From the result of physical andrnchemical characteristics it could be inferred that tensile and tear strength of thernleathers from Ethiopian highland hair sheep skin is higher than Indian hair sheeprnskins. Chemical characteristics such as the hydroxyproline content, collagen, nitrogen,rnglycoprotein, hide substance of the skins have been determined and in all resultrnEthiopia highland hair sheep skins are better compared to Indian material. rnFrom the histological, physical and chemical characteristics of the Ethiopian sheeprnskins, it could be inferred that the inherent character of these skins make it suitable forrnmaking of glove and cabretta leathers.