More often than not, you come across leather items such as belts, wallets, jackets, and such that won’t break the bank. You think you’ll get an amazing deal for such a budget leather product. But in reality, these items will often have synthetic leather. This blog will share how to tell genuine leather from fake ones.

What are real leather and fake leather?

Real leather is the highest quality material that you can purchase. It’s also known as full-grain leather and is made from organic materials. This type of leather’s thickness makes the products that were made with it very durable.

Fake leather, or faux leather, is an artificially made leather composed of thermoplastic polymer. This type of leather is also known as polyurethane leather or PU leather. Full faux leather is completely vegan, whereas other types of faux leather can have real leather mixed with polyurethane.

How can you tell real vs. faux leather?

Certainly, when buying a leather product, you want to ensure that you get high-quality leather with your purchase. For high-quality leather, you can check out https://teddysinclair.com/ for various leather items.

Below are ways to spot real from fake to ensure you get authentic material:

Smell

When comparing real leather with artificially made ones, it is easy to tell which is real by smelling both items. Real leather will smell natural and have a pleasing scent. Since faux leather is made with polyurethane, this type of leather will smell like plastic and chemicals.

How the Leather Burns

You can determine real leather from fake by burning it as well. You can try burning old leather items to see whether they are real or fake. The leather would get scorched and smell like hair if it were real. But if the leather were fake, it would melt or catch fire.

Appearance

When observing real leather, it will contain natural imperfections due to it coming from real animals. The texture of real leather is also soft and smooth, unlike artificial ones. Artificial leather can seem too perfect when examined, as it doesn’t have the natural imperfections that real leather has. The texture of artificial leather is only stamped on, making it seem like a pattern.

Durability

Compared to artificial leather, real leather has strong durability, and the leather doesn’t crack or peel. Real leather only develops patina on its surface over time. Faux leather is weaker than authentic leather as this type will peel or crack as it ages.

Conclusion

Aside from genuine, authentic leather, other types of artificial leather aren’t of the same quality. Generally, artificial leather is cheap compared to real leather but will sacrifice quality for the price. If you’re in the market for top-quality leather, you now know how to determine whether the product you buy is real or fake.

References:

https://www.btod.com/blog/real-vs-bonded-vs-faux-leather/

https://www.missionmercantile.com/pages/fake-leather-vs-real-leather-article

https://www.garrettleather.com/blog/how-do-faux-leather-fabrics-compare-to-real-leather/