Everyone wants to offer premium products in order to stand out from their competitors. Leather products are considered as premium. However, there are so many different types and forms of leather, what are the differences between them?
PU Leather Used in Leather Promotional Products
Leather can be split into two broad categories, genuine and artificial. Artificial leather is often made of PU or PVC. Genuine leather is made from animal skin. Prices vary greatly for these two types of leather. A PU leather bi-fold wallet costs approximately 8USD while a genuine leather bi-fold wallet costs approximately 30 USD. Hence, it can be inferred that genuine leather costs about 4 times of artificial leather.
The Different Types of Genuine Leather
Genuine leather can be further classified based on its type and form. In this blog, I would be discussing on the 4 most common types of leather: full grain, top grain, corrected grain and split leather.
Full grain leather is leather that has imperfections and natural marks on it. The hide has not been sanded, buffed or snuffed. Being completely natural, full grain leather has much fiber strength and durability. Full grain leather also has more breathability, resulting in less moisture. This leather is normally used for high quality furniture and in footwear.
Top grain leather is the most common type of leather used in high end products. It is the second-highest quality of leather. Top grain leather is thinner than full grain leather as its split layer has been separated away. After sanding and applying a finishing coat, top grain leather has less breathability. A benefit of top grain leather over full grain leather is that it has a greater resistance to stains so long as the finish remains unbroken.
Corrected grain leather is leather with artificial grain applied to its surface. Imperfections are first sanded off and artificial grains then impressed into the surface. Most corrected grain leather is used to make pigmented leather. This helps to hide the corrections and imperfections.
Split leather is the remainder of the hide after the top grain portion has been separated from it. Split leather can be split further into middle and flesh split, depending on the thickness of the leather. After splitting, an artificial layer is applied to the leather and the surface is embossed with leather grain. Split leather can be used to create suede.