Leather Types

Maybe you are not quite sure what kind of leather your upholstered furniture is made of?

You can find help here!

When you choose leather you are bringing a wonderful, durable, fine creation of nature into your living room. Its suppleness, breathability and natural quality are what make it so sought-after. Leather comes from a natural product – it is obtained from animal skins and therefore bears signs of an individual lifestyle. But not all leather is the same. There are different types of leather, depending on how it was made.

A distinction is always drawn between SMOOTH LEATHER and SUEDE (nubuck, velours). With smooth leather, the upper side of the animals hide is used, as seen by the skin pores. With suede, the surface is sanded and roughened. This is done to conceal hide damage and also to make use of split animal hides. A short video illustrates the differences:

Here in this video we show you the various types of smooth leather:

Pure Aniline Leather: The Exclusive

Very soft, warm and pleasant surface
Extremely breathable
Skin pores are still very easily visible as subtle holes as aniline is dyed all the way through (clearly seen through a magnifying glass)
Unfortunately very sensitive, stains fairly easily and shows signs of wear
Stains often difficult to remove
Not particularly recommendable for families with children and pets

Semi-Aniline Leather: The In-Between

Soft, pleasant feel
Having been dyed all the way through, the leather is only given a thin coating of dye
The skin pores are still slightly visible (through a magnifying glass)
Most soiling can be removed without a problem

Pigmented / Covered Leather: The Easy Care

Somewhat stiffer, moderately warm feel
Skin pores are no longer visible as they are covered with a coating of dye which conceals them
Very hard wearing, making is very suitable for everyday use
Hardly prone to soiling
Very easy to clean, almost all stains can be removed with the appropriate KERALUX^® cleaners

Suede

SUEDE, also called nubuck leather or velour, distinguished by a velvety surface. This effect is achieved by sanding the surface or underside of split leather hide. The roughened, velvety surface of this leather type rules out the application of a dye coating after barrel dyeing because the fibres would stick together.

Suede leather is sometimes produced from animals that live in the wild, such as deer, stags etc. As a result of living in the wild, the skin surface is heavily scarred which is why the underside of the skin (flesh side) is mostly used. It is roughened to produce a velour leather. Would you have known?

Very soft and skin-friendly
Feels very supple and warm
Velvety soft nap
As seen by the “writing effect”, i.e. stroking over nubuck leather with the hand shows the “stroking direction” as this changes the direction of the roughened fibres.