Know Your Leather: Cheap Leather vs Quality Leather

Purchasing leather products may always seem like taking a risk. There are so many faux leather or cheap quality leather products in the market which have been processed to look exactly like high quality leather but are not durable and wear and tear easily. How can you then know if a certain item is made from quality leather or not? In today’s segment of Know Your Leather, we will discuss some key points to help you identify cheap leather from quality leather.


Like many high-priced items, leather is an investment for you. It does not only determine your class statement for you, but a good quality leather lasts a lifetime making it worth your every penny. Therefore, before buying a product, you should always do your research. The first clue in determining the quality of leather is reading the product labeling and visiting the brand’s website. Find out what grades of leather the company is using for their products. To know more about the grade and quality of different types of leather, read our blogs here (insert link). Do not fall for the marketing gimmick of ‘genuine leather’ tags. Genuine leather or commonly known as correcting leather is the lowest grade of leather and does not last more than a couple of years. To know more about genuine leather, read our blog here (insert link). Full grain leather is the most durable and the highest grade of leather. It is expensive but also worth your money if you are looking for quality over everything. In case the product labels or the brand websites do not clarify which types of leather have been used, there are other ways for you to identify the quality of your leather products as well.


Look out for the edges of the leather. If there is blue/ sky blue in it, that means the tannery did not allow the leather to properly tan and only partially processed the hide. Blue edges mean the hide was rushed through the process. Sometimes, the wet blue edges are also painted to hide the blemish, a sign that the product you are looking at is not the finest. However, it should also be kept in mind that sometimes, an edge coat can be applied on high-quality leather also for aesthetic purposes. Hence, painted edges may not always be indicative of a cheap quality product. It is a clue worth looking into if no other information about the type of leather is provided to you.


A high-quality leather can also be identified by the mere feel of it. Before buying it, take some time to really feel your leather. A poorly processed leather will feel stiff or brittle while a high-quality leather will feel soft and pliable. However, if you feel a perfectly smooth surface, that means the leather has been sanded to make it perfect. The highest quality of leather, i.e., full grain leather will not have perfections. When pressed with fingers, the surface of this kind of leather will stretch and wrinkle. If you identify a repeatable pattern on the surface, that also means that there was a texture stamped into the leather. Quality leather has unique markings on it, and it gets better with age, developing a beautiful patina as time goes by.


And of course, with great quality comes high prices. A quality leather product will cost you more than a split leather or faux leather product but unlike them, quality leather does not end up in a landfill after a couple of years. It ages with time and has a high durability. However, do not let the sellers fool you by selling you lower quality leather for a high price.


Once you use a quality leather product, there is no turning back for you. Once you experience quality leather, you will never turn to ‘genuine leather’ and chances are that you will never need to. We recommend you always look for full grain, premium quality leather products for all your leather needs.