What’s up with Genuine Leather?
You will often see the term ‘Genuine Leather’ on items you find a stores, but what does this really mean?
If you go to a department store or other big box retail store, you will often run across leather items like belts or wallets that are stamped with the term ‘Genuine Leather’ but is this really any kind of quality guarantee? Not really. In fact it is one of the lowest grades of the types of leather you can purchase.
Genuine Leather is usually made from the lower quality parts of a hide that are removed from higher quality leather hides. Often it is made from the parts shaved off of the back of a leather hide that are then glued together for strength and have a leather texture embossed onto the surface. These are basically rejected parts from higher quality items that are recycled into something useful for the mass consumer market. This kind of leather doesn’t have much strength or the ability to wear well because it doesn’t include the grain surface of the leather from the original hide. The grain surface is where most of leather’s strength resides. Thus items made from ‘Genuine Leather’ won’t hold up well and tend to wear out or break down quickly. It’s only suitable for items where strength and durability are not required.
Other Types of Leather
Top Grain is the next step up and while it’s better, it still has some drawbacks. Top Grain still has the grain surface on the leather but that surface has been ‘corrected’. Leather naturally has slight imperfections on the grain surface. These are usually marks or scars the animal picked up on its hide over it’s lifetime. On Top Grain leather the gain surface is sanded to remove these marks so it looks like a higher quality leather but this removes some of the strength from the leather. To repair the damage to the surface, paints and sealants are sprayed on the surface. Often a grain design will be embossed onto the leather as well. These treatments can make this leather hold its color well and be water resistant, but often lower quality hides are used because the finishing steps mask the imperfections.
Top Grain leather is the kind of leather used in most luxury brand handbags, wallets or briefcases. It wears better than Genuine Leather but that’s partially due to the surface treatments that are added to it. It doesn’t have the strength and resistance to wear that Full Grain leather does because the top of the grain surface has been damaged by the sanding.
Full Grain Leather
Full Grain leather is the highest quality of the types of leather used in making personal items. This leather has the original grain surface of the hide intact which gives it all the strength and wear resistance leather is known for. It may have slight blemishes and imperfections but a skilled maker can work around them in the hide. Full Grain leather is preferred for heavy duty items that need to be rugged and wear resistant. However in a skilled craftsman’s hands the same leather can be used for handbags, wallets, belts and other personal items that will wear very well and last for many years. If you want an item that will be durable and last a long time, this is the leather you want to use. Full Grain leather is usually more expensive because it has to be a higher quality hide to start with. This initial expenses is usually more than offset by the lifetime the finished product will have.
Understanding these differences helps to explain why hand crafted items from a reputable maker like C and B Leather cost more than the mass produced items you find at a department store. The quality of the full grain leather we use is one reason for a higher price, but the experience and skill we bring to your project are also a factor. If you have a personal item you would like custom made out of high quality full grain leather, please contact us to make your idea a reality.
