There is no particular need of retaining this word in the shoe trade. It means “tan color,” and nothing else, although it is often used when the word “Russia” is intended. Bark-tanned leather comes out a yellowish brown; that is the origin of the word “tan” as applied to shade, and the word “russet” was originally used to refer to leather which was not blackened otherwise colored, but was left in its natural tan color.
— The Shoe and Leather Lexicon, Fourth Edition, 1918