So simply put – all leather is not created equally! To keep this education simple, there are four types of leather:
- Top grain
- Full grain
- Split/genuine leather
- Bonded leather
Top grain leather just means its been corrected in some way. Any leather with the entire grain intact (and not corrected) is called full grain and is typically your most expensive leather.
Leather that has been split from the grain and is the bottom part of the leather is called split or genuine leather. Embossed leather, suede ,napa leather, and more are all split leather (there’s a little difference in definitions but this is pretty common).
Sidenote: nubuck and suede are not the same! Suede typically comes from split leather while nubuck comes from grain leather!
Last is bonded leather and it’s a stretch to call it leather. It’s shredded leather scraps and rceonstituted with a filler. It’s cheap and can fall apart easily….this is bonded leather and, frankly, should be avoided.
Now ~ grab your shoes, wallet, handbag, etc and see what you’re rockin’….if it doesn’t say full or top grain leather then you should not have paid top dollar for it!
That’s our lesson on leather today ~ go forth and be stylish!!
A few terrific examples of full-grain leather (worth the spend!)….
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