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[DWARFFRAWD]

It seems to have the advantage of being lightweight,
but it seems useless because it has almost no defense.
 Is it simply used to train when dwarf's armor skills is low?

[FourierSeries]

Lessee how well I remember this all.

Leather armor has two meanings in the Dwarf Fortress community.

Informally, generally, it's essentially clothing made of leather. Formally, specifically, it's a breastplate made of leather, and nothing more than that one single armor item. It's a bit confusing if you don't understand what's being referred to.

Generally, leather whatever is better than clothing alone. It's considered relatively easy to mass produce and in higher quality levels in the beginning of your fortress. I suppose it's also a decent trade item. Other than that it's quickly rendered obsolete once you get a proper metal industry and trained armorer set up.

I'll usually throw some leather breastplates on my crossbow dwarfs in the beginning since I'm careful to keep them from charging into melees.

I suspect most players consider it a stopgap at best, and to be discarded as soon as you can.

[Tomsod]

Leather has horrible material properties, so leather armor is even less protective than bone, in fact even silk clothing might be stronger than leather (once it was, then it wasn't, now nobody knows if that change was reverted).  It's only useful for training, and to prevent naked tantrums if you can't mass-produce shirts for some reason (being technically armor and not clothing, it won't become worn over time).

[anewaname]

If you put most or all "civilian" dwarfs in the military just so their uniform will protect them from the random pond grabber or raven while they are hauling stuff, leather armor is some extra arm and leg protection, and because it is not metal, dwarfs can get a happy thought for wearing it.

[Goldbeard]

My unscientific impression is it does something against weaker opponents, I'm just not sure how much. Also keep in mind you can assign it over a metal mail shirt without adding much weight, which again should do something but I'm not sure how much.

What I actually use it for most is in uniforms for my "civilian" military squads. Everyone except miners/woodcutters/hunters gets a squad, just to get them to carry a shield and axe. Then over time I add leather armor, bone greaves, a silk robe and a metal helmet without slowing them too much. But you don't want even the "speedy" metal uniform (i.e. mail but no breastplate) on, say, your stone haulers, the total weight seems to slow them. (Also unscientific impression from fortress play not arena, but I'm pretty sure of this one.)

Possibly I should push harder for bone breastplates instead? Wiki calls leather and bone "roughly equivalent," but it wouldn't be the first time the wiki has been technically accurate but misleading without context.

[Splint]

Leather armor covers a decent amount and is good for the following
- Low-encumbrance option for ranged fighters (where encumbrance plays a minor role in how quickly they reload and fire)
- General armor-user training.
- Defense against animal attacks.
- Preventing accidents from wrestling throws/takedowns in normal training or combat. (I learned this one the hard way)
- Lightweight alternative to breastplates, particularly in metal-poor environments or for physically weaker recruits until they get their strength up.

Every little bit helps, though due to being a soft material, it can wear out rather quickly in combat when fending off metal weapon attacks. Bone and shell likewise can serve similar roles, keeping troops light and making sure they have something besides plain clothes for protection against damage. During wrestling in training/combat, leather helmets and armor can be the difference between a recruit getting a bruise and getting killed by accident or their ribs broken, but in general organic materials tend to fare very poorly on their own in real combat. This even extends to wood or leather shields/bucklers, especially ones of higher quality than their users' weapons as they'll frequently be smashed apart on the enemy's head.

That said, I've actually gotten decent results pairing leather armor with chain armor. Their low weight compared to breastplates means soldiers move faster and are worn out less while still having that extra layer to reduce incoming damage. While far from scientific, it seems that leather body armor over mail can be the difference between a pierced lung and "just" a broken rib from stabbing attacks from anything bigger than a bolt or arrow and can be enough to keep werecreatures from tearing the skin with an initial bite if they go for the body.

[Stench Guzman]

Leather armor is cheap and easy to make.  You can import a lot of leather skins cheaply from dwarves or humans.  Leatherworking doesn't require any fancy setups.  Just build a leatherworker's shop somewhere and start churning out armor.  You can equip a 10 man squad pretty quickly this way.

It's no substitute for metal armor, and even copper is better than leather, so it's more of an intermediate step until you get smelting and fuel production ready.  And leather armor has decent trade value so you can sell it off when you are done with it.  You'll quickly have a trained leatherworker, if you want high value quivers or bags.

I probably wouldn't bother with leather shields since wood is easier to come across unless you are on a glacier or something.