Picture the scene: You’re in your favorite clothing store in the mall hunting for some new clothing. Suddenly you happen upon a gorgeous black leather jacket that looks so good, it’s almost worth dying for. A quick look at the label tells you this jacket is indeed “Genuine Leather.”
“Price be damned!” you say. You want this jacket and if it’s genuine leather, it’s going to last long enough that your children’s grandchildren will likely be wearing it one day, right?
Unfortunately not. Genuine leather isn’t really genuine at all. At least not when compared to full-grain and top-grain leathers. The latter two are actually what you want to find on product labels and/or stamped right into the underside of the leather itself.
Is genuine leather actually leather at all?
Technically, yes. But this is a technicality that manufacturers can get away with because most of a genuine leather product is, in fact, leather. It’s just not great leather.
Just like the ground beef in your McDonald’s or Carl’s Jr hamburger is in fact a “100 percent beef product,” most people still know the meat used to make those burgers weren’t from Rib-eye or Sirloin cut. Fast food companies won’t tell you where the cuts come from because then the ten dollars and change you pay for a combo meal wouldn’t seem justified.
Leather companies do the same with their least desirable cuts of leather. They don’t want to throw it out, because they have to pay for every ounce of leather that comes into their manufacturing facilities. So they dress it up, paint it to look similar to a full-grain leather product, and slash the price in half to appeal to people who can’t afford, or don’t want to pay the higher price for leather made from the top-most outer layer of the hide.
So, what exactly is genuine leather then?
There are a few animals who have really thick hides. Two great examples are cow and buffalo. While buffalo isn’t super popular commercially, cow certainly is. Most of the commercial leather products out there are made from bovine hides.
When a hide is really thick, it needs to be “split” in order to be a suitable candidate for making coats, vests, pants, purses, handbags, and other clothing and accessory items that require a thinner, flexible cut of leather. Imagine wearing a leather coat that’s over an inch thick. Not only would it be too heavy to be practical, you wouldn’t be able to move very easily – you might not even be able to zip such a coat up!
So, in their infinite wisdom, leather manufacturers split the leather into two or more separate layers. The top-most layers are used to make premium full-grain and top-grain leather products.
The layers underneath are used to make genuine leather products (often bicast), or ground up into tiny pieces and glued together in hide-like sheets to make bonded leather (which can also be stamped “Genuine Leather”). That bottom layer of leather is then painted with a fake grain to look like a top layer product, and finally sealed with a clearcoat to protect it.
Should you buy genuine leather?
Absolutely. Nobody’s telling you to avoid genuine leather. It’s not going to give you an allergic reaction every time you wear it!
Genuine leather won’t breathe very well because of all the dyes and/or paints it contains. It’s also not going to last as long. And, quite frankly, it’s never going to fool people who know what real full and top-grain leather is supposed to look like.
The top layer of an animal hide is designed to protect that animal from the ravages of nature such as cold and moisture. That’s what you’re getting when you buy a full-grain or top-grain product – both of which can last a lifetime or longer with proper care.
There’s no way to predict how long a genuine leather product will last. A cheap genuine leather belt might rip in half after just a few uses. Perhaps with care, or if the underlying leather hide is strong, such an item might last a few years. Who knows?
Compare that kind of quality with the leather belt your dad still wears, that was given to him by his great grandpa, who was born in 1890! There’s no comparison.
In short, if budget is the number one concern, and you don’t care whether the leather product you’re buying lasts long, breathes well, or can pass the careful scrutiny of those who know high quality leather when they see it, go for it.
Just make sure you know what the true quality of the leather is that you’re buying, and how much you should actually be paying for it.
