The Source
The raw skin, before the cure — the default of the world, the beast-folk's coat, the marsh's floor.
The Yield
A beast gives a hide; the hide is the one the world gives first, and the first is the one the price ladder starts from.
In the Workshop
The hide is the floor of the armor ladder: it is everywhere, it is cheap, and it is the one the world is made of — the way the iron is the floor of the metal ladder.
Cost band: apprentice (the floor) — on the ladder in The Maker's Hand, the material is the floor, and the floor is the one the mine or the marsh or the tree has to give. Recipes that take it: tailoring, the armor ladder