Leather Guide

MONT5 products use premium quality leather to ensure the perfect blend of durability and comfort

As a leather buyer it's important to understand the different types of leather. Let’s take a look at different sorts of leather and the characteristics they offer. Here are the major characteristics of each type of leather out there in the market.

TOP GRAIN

Top Grain is the refined version of full grain. It’s sanded and refinished to remove scars and scrapes from the animal’s hide to give it a uniform, smooth and soft look. Top grain leather is ideal for jackets because it offers a sleek look and is softer and more stain resistant than full grain. Top Grain, in other words, is a guarantee of unmatched finish, smooth feel and wear of a lifetime.

FAUX LEATHER AKA SYNTHETIC LEATHER

Faux leather is not real leather rather it is created synthetically from plastic, which looks like leather but it isn’t. Faux leather does not age well or develop a patina. Breaks down in a couple of years.

HOW TO SPOT FAUX LEATHER?

• Inspect the edges of the product, if it’s faux it will be perfect that will feel plastic. Authentic leather is always rough around the edges.
• Faux leather will have pores that are consistent in pattern, real leather will have inconsistencies in the pores.
• Smell the product, the smell of real leather cannot be replicated it may help if you know how real leather smells.

BONDED LEATHER

It is a man-made upholstery material made from shredded leather coated with polyurethane to give a leather like texture. Bonded leather tears easily and once torn it starts breaking apart nearby until the whole piece is shredded. It isn’t repairable and the whole piece has to be replaced. Most bonded products say it’s bonded on the label, beware of the word bonded.

GENUINE LEATHER

Genuine leather, sounds good eh? But there’s a catch, it’s only an industry term used for leather, which isn’t full or top grain. It’s created from the lower skin of the animal which is then processed to give a natural grain look. Being low cost and not so durable, genuine leather is the lowest quality of all the leather made products. So whenever you see that 150$ leather jacket, it’s probably genuine leather.

FULL GRAIN