Real Leather VS Fake Leather

How to identify real leather

High appeal on leather comes as a result of its sophisticated looks and its durability that is unmatched by imitations. Most people when buying leather, run for tags that read genuine leather, well today I have news for you. Real leather comes in multiple grades. Genuine leather in its self is not real leather. Genuine leather jacket is actually the second lowest grade of leather. Other grades of leather include:

• Full Grain Leather
• Top Grain Leather
• Genuine Leather
• Bonded Leather

Surely, it's not easy to identify original leather from replicas or faux leathers being supplied in the market. The black market for leather is on the rising, and it's really getting difficult for buyers to distinguish between a real and faux leather material. So how do you know or identify whether the shoes on your hand are indeed real and not an imitation of the real deal? Well stop wondering why and follow keenly on these 7 basic steps:

1. Take a look at the product description

First and foremost, you would need to do is looking at the item description before you become attracted or interested in the product. However, to identify if its real leather or fake leather, you would need to read cautiously. Anything that reads cowhide leather, sheep leather, full-grain leather, and top-grain leather will certainly be real.

Product description tells a lot. Make sure to check the trademark and other little information. Always be keen not to buy anything that shows or reads faux leather or genuine leather. They are certainly not real or genuine leather.

2. Check on the labelling

Real leather is basically made of natural animal skins with a few blemishes and imperfections here and there. Real leather jacket should not have labels such as “man-made materials” or the term genuine leather, this is fake.  Real leather may have labels such as cowhide leather or sheep leather.

3. Have a feel of the texture

Real leather should have a rough or course feel, anything that feels extra smooth or plastic screams fake. Like a natural material, leather ages like we humans. Most leather products have the natural feel, and with wrinkles, just as ageing. Any leather material that feels unnatural screams faux. Fake leather lookalikes have too even textures that are monotonous and therefore screams ….. Yes, FAKE! If you take a sniff at real leather, it is distinct, the smell of real skin, but remember fakes always smell plastic.

4. Real leather wrinkles when pressed

Real leather jacket behaves like a stretched elastic skin when pressed and this quality makes it unique to any other material that may be fraudulently presented as genuine leather. Furthermore, genuine leather is a natural material with distinct characteristics like those of rocks and minerals that occur naturally on the earth's surface. It is very simple to differentiate types of rocks by just a mere look and the mineral texture a particular rock and the same applies to the genuine leather. Experts are even able to find out about the quality of the leather by just a smell of the material and they will specifically notify and be able to differentiate between fake and genuine leather. However, you should not be confused or fooled by the various writing describing the quality of leather on the particular material, they are just mere writing that doesn't guarantee the qualities of genuine leather.

5. Make a few drops of water

Real leather is absorbent to water. So don’t throw it out just yet, real leather will absorb water. If you are afraid to try this... At least try the saliva test, by putting a little saliva on your leather, if it absorbs, then give the sigh of relief… yes, it's real! But if it merely floats on the surface, then you have some real shopping to do soon,

6. Have a look at the price tag

Prices of leather vary in different stores across the globe, but it is known that the price of leather never goes below 200 dollars. Real leather jacket prices are usually fixed in most shops and quite expensive considering the high production cost. If the price is too reasonable, then you should think twice.

7. Real leather jacket doesn’t crack easily

Well from our second point you may by now know that real leather is similar to human skin, therefore you don’t crack right?  Same to the real leather, once turned to leather, it still holds to the properties it previously had of animal skin, and yes, wait for it “properties made of real leather are long lasting and therefore do not crack" unless of course, you crack a smile while wearing your favourite leather jacket after successfully passing the above 6 tests and now inching closer to realising you're an expert in this field of leather.

8. Burn it up

You may find this as a surprise and may think, “Not my leather jacket”. No one would lit fire on their favourite leather garment, but what am I saying here, if it catches fire within seconds and burns with a sort of smell gotten from burning plastic, then most definitely it is a fake leather jacket, real leather takes time and resists burning, but if you persist with a lighter, it will burn without a flame, but emits a smell that resembles the smell of cowhide or animal skin for instance.

Additionally, to improve the judging skills at identifying fake vs genuine leather spend time comparing leathers that you know are fake with the genuine ones. With sufficient practice, you will be skilled enough to see if the piece you're shopping is the real and worth the cost.

By now you may be considering yourself the master of leather. You have know the outs-and-ins of leathers and possess a sophisticated knowledge that enables you identify real leather from fake leather. Sculpt produces real leather products. But if you don’t take our words for it! Order one of our products now and use with our user's guide to see we’re not just bluffing around! We assure you a full satisfaction. Hurry while stocks last.

At Sculpt, we only use Full Grain Leather for all the Leather Jackets. Check our range of Men's leather jackets and Women's leather jackets.