At present, there are two popular types of leather products in the market: genuine leather and synthetic leather. Synthetic leather and synthetic leather are made from textile fabric or non-woven fabric substrates, coated with polyurethane and treated with special foaming. They have a surface feel similar to genuine leather, but their breathability, wear resistance, and cold resistance are not as good as genuine leather. How to distinguish between genuine and synthetic leather products?
1. Leather surface: The natural leather surface has its own special natural patterns, and the leather surface has a natural luster. When pressed or pinched by hand, the leather surface has no dead wrinkles or folds, nor cracks; The leather surface of synthetic leather is very similar to natural leather, but upon closer inspection, the patterns are not natural, the luster is brighter than natural leather, and the colors are mostly bright.
2. Leather body: Natural leather has a soft and tough feel, while imitation leather products are also very soft, but lack toughness, and the leather body becomes hard when the climate is cold. When using hands to bend the leather body, natural leather bends back naturally and has good elasticity, while imitation leather products have stiff bending movements and poor elasticity.
3. Cut: The color of the cut on natural leather is consistent, and the fibers are clear, visible, and fine. The cut of imitation leather products does not have a natural leather fiber feel, or the fibers and resin at the bottom can be seen, or it can be seen from the cut that the bottom fabric is glued to the resin in two layers.
4. Inside the leather: The front of natural leather is smooth and flat with pores and patterns. The reverse side of the leather has obvious fiber bundles, which are fluffy and uniform. In imitation leather products, some synthetic leather has consistent front and back surfaces, with good gloss on both the inside and outside, and is also very smooth; Some synthetic leather has different front and back sides, with obvious underlying fabric visible inside the leather; But there are also some leathers with leather surfaces that resemble natural leather, and leather with fur that resembles natural leather. This requires careful observation of the differences between genuine and fake varieties.
Sheep leather: Its characteristics are flat and round grain pores that penetrate deeper into the leather at an oblique angle, with several pores arranged in a group resembling scales or serrations. The pattern features a "water ripple" shape. In sheepskin, it is further divided into sheepskin and goat leather.
Sheepskin: The fat content in the cortex is high, and the fiber tissue of the leather is loose, very soft, with fine grain size and high extensibility, but not strong.
Goat leather: The fat content in the cortex is relatively low, and the fibrous tissue is fuller and more durable than sheepskin.
The difference between the two: sheepskin has fine and smooth grain surface; Goat leather has clear pores and elastic texture. Regardless of which type of sheepskin product is used to make clothing, it has beautiful patterns, a soft and natural luster, is lightweight, soft, and elastic, but its strength is not as good as cowhide and pigskin.
The epidermis is located beneath the hair and closely adheres to the dermis, composed of epidermal cells arranged in different shapes. The thickness of the skin varies with different animals, for example, the skin thickness of cowhide is 0.5-1.5% of the total thickness; Sheep and goat skins account for 2-3%; And pigskin accounts for 2-5%. The dermis is located beneath the epidermis, between the epidermis and subcutaneous tissue, and is the main part of the dermis. Its weight or thickness accounts for over 90% of the raw skin.
The raw material for leather making is animal skin. Although pig skin, cowhide, and sheepskin are commonly used in our daily lives, in reality, most animal skins can be used for leather making. However, cowhide, pigskin, and sheepskin are the main raw materials for leather production due to their high quality and large output.
Although there are various types of raw materials for leather production, according to international animal protection regulations and a series of laws and regulations, the actual raw materials used for production are limited to some extent. Commonly used leather includes cow leather, sheep leather, pig leather, and horse leather.
Characteristics and Differences of Leather Materials
First layer leather and second layer leather: According to the layers of leather, there are first layer and second layer leather, among which the first layer leather includes grain leather, trimmed leather, embossed leather, special effect leather, and embossed leather; Second layer leather is divided into pig second layer and cow second layer leather, etc.
Grain leather: Among many leather varieties, full grain leather ranks first because it is processed from high-quality raw materials with less damage. The leather surface retains its natural state intact, and the coating is thin, which can show the natural pattern beauty of animal skin. It is not only wear-resistant, but also has good breathability.
Shaved leather: It is made by lightly grinding the surface with a leather grinder, applying a coating, and then pressing the corresponding pattern onto it. In fact, it is a cosmetic surgery performed on natural leather surfaces with disabilities or roughness. This type of leather has almost lost its original surface state,
Full grain leather characteristics: divided into soft leather, wrinkled leather, front leather, etc. The characteristic is to fully preserve the grain surface, with clear, small, tight, and irregularly arranged pores, a plump and delicate surface, and rich
Characteristics of semi grain leather: During the production process, it is processed and ground by equipment to only have half of the grain, hence it is called semi grain cowhide. Maintaining some of the natural leather style, the pores are flat and oval shaped, arranged irregularly, and have a hard texture. Generally, inferior grade raw materials are used. So it belongs to mid-range leather. Due to the special nature of the process, its surface is free of damage and scars, and its utilization rate is high. Its finished product is not easily deformed, so it is generally used for large briefcase products with large areas.
Characteristics of polished cowhide: also known as "smooth cowhide", the market also refers to matte or glossy cowhide. The characteristic is a flat and smooth surface without pores or wrinkles. During production, the surface grain is lightly polished and decorated. A layer of colored resin is sprayed on top of the leather to cover the surface texture, and then water-based translucent resin is sprayed, making it a high-end leather. Especially shiny cowhide, with its dazzling and noble style, is a popular leather for fashion and leather goods.
Special effect cowhide characteristics: Its production process requires the same decorative cowhide as the current popular leather, which is a mid-range leather with added beads, metal aluminum or metal copper elements in colored resin for comprehensive spraying on the leather, and then rolled with a layer of water-based transparent resin. The finished product has various luster, bright appearance, elegance and luxury. Embossed cowhide characteristics: Using patterned flower boards (made of aluminum or copper) to heat and press various patterns on the leather surface, creating a style of leather. At present, the popular products in the market are "lychee patterned cowhide" and "snake skin pattern" Ostrich patterned leather "refers to the use of a flower board with a lychee patterned pattern, also known as" lychee patterned cowhide ".
Second layer leather: It is made by slicing thick leather with a leather cutting machine, and the first layer is used to make full grain leather or finished leather Finished leather, etc., is made into two-layer leather through a series of processes such as coating or film pasting Film coated leather, etc., has poor fastness and wear resistance, and is a cheap type of leather in the same category.
Characteristics of two-layer cowhide: Its reverse side is the second layer of cowhide material, coated with a layer of PU resin on the surface, so it is also known as laminated cowhide. It is also produced in various grades with changes in craftsmanship, such as imported two-layer cowhide. Due to its unique craftsmanship, stable quality, and novel varieties, it is currently a high-end leather, with prices and grades no less than those of first layer genuine leather.
Nappa leather: also known as Nappa leather soft upper leather, English name: NAPPA NAPPA. It originated from the South Korean Wave. At that time, China's leather technology was still very backward, and Nappa leather was treated as a forced product. Over time, the term Nappa leather has been retained The technological revolution of Nappa leather in South Korea reached a certain peak in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the soft leather Nappa leather in the fur industry was also well applied. Soft touch is the major feature of Nappa leather, and silky surface is also one of its characteristics. Later, after increasing the thickness of the cowhide with Nappa leather, it was used to make shoes that also showed all the advantages of Nappa leather. Therefore, Nappa leather gradually became popular in the footwear industry Nappa leather was truly applied in China in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The leather clothing made of Nappa leather in Xinji, China quickly became popular nationwide, fully showcasing the soft, cold resistant, and noble characteristics of Nappa leather. The popularity of Nappa leather in the footwear industry was in Wenzhou, Zhejiang. Nappa leather has been popular as a common material for casual shoes since the early 1990s and continues to be so today.
