LEATHER TALK: Q&A
What is considered real leather?"Real leather is a natural material made from real animal skin. Its surface structure will not be completely uniform and will include blemishes and imperfections. Hints of imperfections are a good sign in leather. That is the beauty of it!"
How can you tell real leather from fake?
"Practice with some products you know are real so you can become familiar with the distinctive smell of genuine leather. Real leather can feel coarse or smooth, depending on the quality and type. If the product feels too smooth or feels like plastic, it is likely fake."
How can you tell the quality of leather?
"Run your fingers across the surface grain to feel for tiny imperfections, which usually indicate real leather. If you're still not sure, smell the material. If it smells natural and slightly musty, it's probably real leather, but if it smells like plastic or chemicals, it's likely synthetic."
Is genuine leather waterproof?
"Due to its permeable nature, leather can never be truly 100% waterproof - especially as the leather gets older and is left untreated. However, if leather is treated in a specific manner you can not only increase the lifespan of your leather, but also improve its level of waterproofness."
Why can leather be so expensive?
"TANNING. Higher quality leather products typically use vegetable tanning which does not use chemicals to dye the leather and instead uses natural methods of coloring such as tree bark and tannin. This takes a lot longer than other tanning methods so it becomes more expensive."