There are many types of leather. Different types of raw hides and different tanning methods can be used to make leather suitable for various purposes. Commonly used leathers for genuine leather products have the following characteristics respectively.
(1) Features of cow leather
Cow leather includes cattle leather, yak leather and buffalo leather.
Cattle leather has fine grain, thick skin, high strength, fullness and elasticity, so its products are beautiful, comfortable and durable. Cattle leather is mainly used in clothing, leather shoes, luggage and ball products.
The grain of ox leather is slightly worse than that of scalper leather, and other properties and uses are roughly similar to that of scalp leather.
The surface of buffalo leather is relatively rough, the fiber is loose, the strength is slightly lower than that of scalper leather, and other properties are similar to that of scalp leather. Buffalo leather is mainly used to make sofas, bags, and leather shoes.
(2) Characteristics of pig leather
Pig leather is quite different from cow and sheep leather, which is mainly reflected in the rough grain, tight fiber, fullness and poor elasticity. However, the strength of pig leather is similar to that of cow leather and higher than sheep leather, so its products are durable, but The aesthetics is poor.
Pig leather can be used in the production of various leather products.
(3) Features of sheep leather
Sheep leather is divided into goat leather and sheep leather.
Goat leather has fine and beautiful grain and good softness, but its fastness is worse than cow leather. Goat leather products are beautiful and comfortable, but the surface anti-friction and durability are average. Goat leather is mainly used in the production of high-end women’s leather shoes, clothing, gloves and women’s handbags.
Sheep leather has better softness than goat leather, but its fastness is not as good as goat leather. Sheep leather products are more beautiful and comfortable to wear, but have poor durability. Sheep leather is mainly used in the production of clothing and gloves, but also in the production of high-end leather shoes and soft bags.
(4) Features of full grain leather
Full-grain leather refers to leather that retains and uses the original face of animal skin (the side with growing hair), also called frontal leather. Some surfaces of full-grain leather are used directly without finishing, but most of them are finished with beautifying finishing.
Full-grain leather requires high-grade raw leather with less damage and high processing requirements, so full-grain leather is high-grade leather. Since the surface of the raw leather is completely retained on the leather, its fastness performance is good. Generally speaking, the surface of full-grain leather is not painted or the coating layer is very thin, which maintains the softness and good air permeability of the leather. The grain of real leather is used to reflect the natural style, making it comfortable and beautiful.
Most of the full-grain leather is colored with dyes, so the industry usually refers to the full-grain leather with dye as the main colorant of the coating as aniline leather (or full-aniline leather). This kind of leather is evenly dyed and has clear grains. It does not use any film-forming material with covering effect. The grains on the leather surface are not covered by flow and are retained; the modified leather surface is only a thin, colorless and transparent surface. You can clearly see the grain of the leather itself.
Full-grain leather is used in all high-end leather products. When cleaning and caring for such leather products, care should be taken to maintain its unique style and feel.
(5) Features of semi-aniline leather
The raw material of this kind of leather has partial but very shallow disability on the grain surface. In order to cover the disability but at the same time retain the natural grain of the leather, a small amount of pigments and synthetic film agents and dyes should be used to lightly spray and color the leather. The semi-covering layer with a very thin coating makes the grain on the leather surface faintly visible.
