Leather Types

Information on the internet regarding the care of leather is scarce, often contradictory, misleading, or simply wrong. Mis-information can lead to inadvertent damage to your leather articles. Our goal is to present clear, concise, accurate information. Before you can learn how to care for your leather, you should know the type of leather you have.

First, here is some base-line information about leather to help you better understand its properties.

Leather is a natural product. It comes from animal skins which have been chemically processed (tanned) to preserve them. A properly tanned hide (or skin) creates strong, flexible material, resistant to decay.

Most leather is tanned cow hide. Cow hides are about 1/4 to 3/8 inches thick, which is too heavy for general upholstery application. Therefore, hides are split laterally, rendering an upper and lower cut.

The upper portion is the "top-grain", or "full-grain". The lower portion is the "split". This cutting process creates different “faces” to the leather. The outside face of the top- or full-grain shows the natural grain characteristics, but is otherwise smooth, whereas, the underside appears as suede".

Now let’s determine what type of leather you have. There are two basic categories: "Finished" or "Unfinished". Briefly, finished leather is dyed, and then coated with a pigment-based leather colorant. Unfinished leather is dyed only. Finished leather is protected, unfinished is raw.

The following table depicts comparative features.

Feature	Finished	Unfinished
Color -	Pigmented color coating on the leather's surface.	Aniline dye color in the leather.
Stain Protection -	Color coating protects against staining.	Absorbs liquid and is prone to staining.
Fading -	Pigment coating is fade resistant.	Dyes fade from light exposure. (UV)
Color Richness -	Color coating is uniform, lacking depth, except when certain coloring techniques are used. These usually involve the application of a uniform base color, and then a darker, non-uniform print is applied over the base color, providing a more organic color rendering due to the contrast between the two.	Coloring is naturally non-uniform due to the varied porosity of the hide itself. The dye saturates the hide at different levels, creating color variations that accentuate the natural beauty of the leather.
Feel (or Hand) -	Leather feels harder, colder, stiffer	Buttery soft, warms quickly, inviting

So, simply put, finished leather color is from a pigment coating on the leather, whereas unfinished is from a dye in the leather. Finished leather is stain and fade resistant but lacks deep richness in color, and tends to be stiffer. Unfinished leather is soft and natural-looking but fades and stains readily. Unfinished leather tends to be more expensive. This graphic depicts the difference between finished and unfinished.

Note that the topical coating can range from thin to thick. If there is a very light color or clear coat on top of aniline-dyed leather, it is often referred to as “semi-aniline.” Semi-aniline leather offers modest protection while retaining much of the aesthetic beauty of an unfinished aniline-dyed leather.

If you're still not sure, or want to learn more then see below for more detailed descriptions of finished and unfinished leathers.

"Finished" : The leather has a topical pigment coat applied. One of the most common coatings consists of a soft acrylic color coating under a urethane clear coating (for durability). These resins create a film that bonds to the surface of the leather. It's primary goal is to protect the leather, providing wear, stain, and fade resistance.

Finished leather will resist staining by water- or oil-based agents (if a drop of water is put directly on the leather surface, the water bead remains on the surface, and does not soak in and darken the material.) The clear coating mentioned above determines the final reflective value of the leather surface (ranging from high gloss, all the way down to a matte or dull finish, depending how much dulling agent is added to the clear coat resin before application), so sheen is not necessarily a help in determining leather type. Generally, finished leathers do not have that "buttery soft" leather feel (or hand) associated with raw leather. Also note, finished leathers can be described as aniline-dyed, and still have a topical pigment applied. Finished leathers are much less susceptible to fading.

"Unfinished" : The leather does not have a topical pigment applied, or has a minimal resin coating to retain the hand of raw leather. The color is achieved by immersing hides in aniline dyes that are absorbed into the leather, accentuating the natural beauty of the hide. Because leather's absorption characteristics are not

Stains

Staining

Leather furniture, like any furniture, gets stains and soiling from usage. The difference is the type of leather that is stained, and whether the stains are “on” the leather, or “in” the leather. And frankly, that is a big difference.

If you are unsure as to the type of leather you have, a quick visit to the leather types page will aid you in determining what you are dealing with. And remember, just because the salesperson said it was a type of leather that doesn’t stain, doesn’t mean that it’s so. Sales departments get their information from factory reps, who get their information from chemists (filtered through the factory’s own sales department), who get their information from tests results that may or may not have any relevance to real world conditions.

When you know what kind of leather you are dealing with, you have a better chance of understanding exactly what your piece being stained means in terms of resolving the staining.

Finished Leather

Staining on finished leather has the best chance of being resolved simply by cleaning. Most staining will be “on” the leather rather than “in” the leather, as the finish holds out spills. The exceptions with finished leather staining typically involve a dye transfer of some sort. A couple of examples would be blue dye from cotton-denim clothing onto light colored finished leathers, or ink, both of which quickly become “in” the leather as the dyes migrate through the top coat and actually “re-dye” the color coating of the finished leather.

Once a finished leather has aged and experienced wear, it will often lose the protection of the clear coat layer and become more susceptible to stains getting “in” to the leather. Lighter colored finished leathers typically show this the most. As the clear coat gets worn off , soiling gets ground “in” to the color coating and regular cleaning is insufficient to get rid of soil and stains.

If your finished Leather has dye transfer, ground-in soiling, or other issues that cleaning alone hasn’t been able to resolve, our Restoration Kit will certainly be able to, giving you the option to restore your piece/s to like-new condition, and then maintain them with SG Series products. Proper maintenance can prevent having the same issues in future.

Semi-Aniline Leathers

When new, semi-aniline leather has some degree of protection on it against staining. Most spills (if quickly dealt with) will be able to be wiped up with a cloth with no residual staining. Food stains can often be removed with a damp cloth or gel-based leather cleaner. If the leather darkens in the area being cleaned, drying with a hair dryer is key to lessening the possibility of the stains being “in” the leather.

If a spill has soaked in but is still damp, flushing with distilled water and then force-drying with a hair dryer will minimize and sometimes stop the area from staining, depending on the source of the spill.

If a spill has soaked in and dried, you now have a stain “in” the leather, rather than “on” the leather. Any attempt at cleaning will have a chance of worsening the situation. The only option now is to cover over the stains “in” the leather. This is precisely one of the things our Restoration Kit is designed for.

Once a semi-aniline leather starts to age, its already minimal amount of stain resistance diminishes and quickly disappears in wear areas. If you have multiple spots and stains across your piece at this stage, no amount of cleaning will improve the situation and any attempt will likely bring more issues, especially if improper products are used. Our Restoration Kit can recolor your piece and give you significantly more stain resistance than your piece had when new.

Unfinished Leathers

Many leathers fall under the category of unfinished - full anilines, pull-up, waxed, oil-tanned, suede, and nubuck, to name a few. These are the most susceptible leathers to staining as they have no integrated protective top coating.

Suede and nubuck stains, once set, should never be liquid cleaned. If something has just spilled on a suede or nubuck they can be flushed with distilled water and force-dried with a hair dryer. Once stains on suede or nubuck have set, the only way to deal with them is through dry abrasion. These leathers were abraded initially at the tannery to create the end product. To deal with staining you must abrade off the soiled or stained surface fibers, and bring back up a fresh nap. Various tools are available, including a suede brush, soft-bristle nylon brush, or even a fingernail, in a pinch. Care should be taken not to over-abrade the areas.

Full Aniline leather is to leather what silk is to fabric; beautiful feel and softness, but stains very easily, and the stains are difficult to deal with. There is no protection on a full aniline leather. Any moisture or spill will immediately soak into the leather. Occasionally, if a spill is caught immediately, flushing and drying might reduce staining, but often could worsen the situation.

Once a full aniline has accumulated extensive staining and soiling, the only course of action to resolve them is to apply a topical finish to the leather. This is often a very costly process when done professionally.

Utilizing our restoration process, you can transform your stained and delicate leather into a protected and much more utilitarian piece. Once you have completed the Leatherman restoration process we have developed, your furniture will become cleanable and spills will be able to be wiped up easily.

When leather cannot be repaired

During the evaluation of your pieces for restoration or repair you may determine, with our input, that some areas of the leather are too seriously damaged or aged to be restored and require replacement. Areas that might fall into this category would include dog chews, large cuts or holes, severely pH-damaged leather, or leather simply at the end of its structural life. This does not mean that your piece cannot be saved. It simply means that the affected areas require replacement.

Often times the bottom cushion wear out first or prime seating areas for TV Viewing.

The best strategy is to replace only the panels with carefully spec out leather that matches grain and texture, once specific panel are replaced we then proceed with color restoration.