Leather symbolizes sophistication and elevates your taste with a fine touch of classiness. While buying leather items, you rarely give much thought to the leather itself. and it's not just you, the lion's share of people, who cherish decorating their homes and themselves with fine leather pieces, often mistake between different types of leather. Since various kind of leather is now in play, the only way you may identify the correct leather is by having a basic understanding of each type.
You don’t need to be a leather expert to determine which material you want for your new couch or a lavish handbag you are about to buy. Genuine leather has been the classic champion of the game but with time, other varieties like vegan and faux leather have emerged as popular categories with manifold attributes to perfectly serve the wide range of use of leather. So what are the differences in them that make each type ideal for specific items? Come and join us in a brief journey and let’s unveil the true facts of the three types of leather.
Real Leather
Animal leather is the finest among all its counterparts. For its unique features and longevity, renowned luxury brands exclusively use real leather to craft their products. While faux and vegan leathers imitate the style, they are not even close to the real one in terms of quality, uniqueness, and durability. Whenever you are opting for a lavish leather item, real leather is always the most preferred material due to its unmatched characteristics.
Another crucial reason why genuine leather has continued to be the greatest of all time is that although alternative leathers claim to be eco-friendly, they are simply not. And with widespread concerns about sustainability, artificial leathers are mostly refused by the finest luxury leather brands. Here are the advantages and defining features of real leather that will help you distinguish the genuine one from its lookalikes.
It’s elegant
No matter how great vegan or faux leathers are at the imitation game, they can never steal the charm of the real one. genuine leather is the emblem of unmatched elegance and sophistication and it is the ideal match for delicate tastes. The texture of leather is the biggest piece of cheese that is impossible to imitate, a smooth surface filled with natural grains that you can never find in artificial leather.
It’s Sustainable
Unlike faux and vegan leathers, original leather is produced from the skin of dead animals and therefore, the material is sustainable and recyclable. As we are paving the way for a sustainable planet, genuine leather is the ideal option for the planet's health.
Ages Like Fine Wine
While the charm of other alternatives of real leather fade away with time, original leather ages like fine wine. As time passes, the genuine one acquires a unique look and characteristics.
It’s Durable
Compared to faux and vegan ones, real leather's durability is top-notch. Its defining characteristic is high resistance which makes your every penny worth.
It’s Breathable and Water Resistant
You may not believe this one at first, breathable and water resistant – how can a material embody these two often contradictory natures simultaneously? Thanks to modern technology, you can expect both breathability and waterproof features from real leather.
Faux Leather
The primary difference between faux and original leather is that the first one is artificially crafted from plastic material while the other one is completely natural. Faux leather also known as PVC leather, often claims to be eco-sustainable but actually, it is not. You can not expect super longevity from faux leather, it may last for a maximum of 3 to 5 years with the quality deteriorating over time. Scratches and torn may appear on the surface, and the smooth finish would tend to fade away sooner.
It’s Inexpensive
The principal factor responsible for the popularity of faux leather is its cheaper price than genuine leather. The rate of items crafted from original and faux leather may widely vary. The latter one will cost you much less at the expense of environmental damage.
Non-breathable
Breathability and comfort are not something you should expect from Faux leather. Since the primary material of this type of leather is PVC, not natural animal skin, it can not offer you the level of comfort, that real leather does.
Synthetic Like Texture
The natural texture which makes leather even more appealing is absent in faux leather. Being made from plastic instead of animal hard, the surface of faux leather looks and feels synthetic.
A Threat to the Environment
Although the faux leather industry thrives on the fake claim that it is eco-friendly, you don't need to be an expert to understand that a by-product of the petroleum industry can never be truly eco-sustainable. For having a very negligible production cost, faux leather has been able to capture the market by offering a cheaper price, which is why it is popular among a great mass who are ready to compromise with quality for price, but at the expense of the planet’s health.
Vegan Leather
The name itself is self-explanatory for Vegan Leather as it is crafted from vegan materials such as algae, cork or leaves. This type of leather is unique in nature from both original and faux leather. Vegan leather can be made from a wide range of materials, but all of them are necessarily vegan. Compared to faux and genuine leather, the nature of vegan leather can be encapsulated through the below-mentioned points.
Poor Durability
Unlike real leather, this one would not last life long. However, being a fairly new material, vegan leather is still underway with a plethora of experiments and development that may effectively reflect in its durability.
Limited functionality
Unlike faux and genuine leather, vegan leather is not an ideal material for a wide range of products. It is usually used only for manufacturing some selective items that do not need super durable features.
It’s expensive
Although from the qualitative viewpoint, vegan leather can not even come close to real leather, it is much more expensive than actual leather. The high price of vegan leather is determined by its great production cost.
Poor texture and quality
In terms of feel, texture, and quality, vegan leather is not worth the extravagant price. The texture of vegan leather does not feel as comfortable as genuine leather. However, it feels similar to faux leather when touched.
Not completely sustainable
Vegan leather is way more sustainable than faux leather, but it is not completely eco-friendly as the industry claims. The materials are of course organic, but the manufacturing process involves enormous use of fossil fuel contributing to the damage to the environment.
Bottomline
Compared to its two alternatives, real leather is the champion of quality and style. Faux leather gained widespread popularity for doing the job initially at a cheap price, and vegan leather offered an alternative, almost sustainable way to produce leather. Neither faux nor vegan leather can match the uniqueness of genuine leather, no matter how profoundly they imitate the real one. From now on, whenever you decide to buy a leather item, consider weighing your requirements and the material's offerings with your budget to bag the ideal leather items that are worth your hard-earned money.