First off.... dire hides have DC 20 when boiled.
Warning: This is gonna be a rant. Some stuff in it is the serious honest truth, but a lot of it is going to be wild exagerations.
Now, here's my radical suggestion. The thick fur armor/clothing/cloak available in stores need to be nerfed, or the player-made leathers need to be improved. There's not a single person on the server who would buy thick fur leathers from a player
ever.
"Hm.... lets see. I can go to the store and buy thick fur armor (hide armor with 15 cold DR, +1 saving throw vs. cold, and 25% fire vulnerability) ..... or I can buy this player made thick fur armor (hide armor with 10 cold Dr and 25% fire vulnerability)"
My suggestion for the store bought cold gear? Well there's many options. Give thick fur armor/clothing a dex penalty for being big and bulky... Decrease their Cold DR.... increase their fire vul..... heck, give them a negative AC modifier if you must! Would see people searching for leatherworkers then, and it'd reduce the amounts of people running about indoors with those massive cold weather suits on, because, as anyone who has ever been in big heavy cold weather gear knows, You
really don't want to wear that crap unless you're someplace very cold.
Crag cat fur is currently worthless, as it's designed for cold weather, yet makes the person actually end up taking
more damage in cold situations than they would if they just had a cloak. I really like the concept of cold resistance and vulnerability... but the cold resistance would need to be much higher to make it worthwhile. (15 or maybe even 20 combined with the 25% vul.)
I really hope that leatherworking could become a profitable career for players the way smithing is... but without some major changes I just don't see it happening.