Leather is a soft and natural material, if it is not cared for properly its lifespan is significantly reduced. The softness of leather is maintained with the help of various oils, which over time evaporate and/or dry out, causing the leather to harden and eventually crack. These problems usually arise due to age, exposure to temperature changes, sun fading and everyday wear and tear, as well as not being cared for sufficiently with the right products.
Leather comes from animals, it is usually said that hides come from small animals and leather is the skins of larger animals. For furniture, hides from larger animals are almost invariably used, usually by-products and/or waste products from slaughter and meat production. In the Nordic countries, the quality of the hides is considered to be very good, this is because the control over the conditions of the livestock is good, which means that scars and marks from barbed wire, thorny bushes and skin diseases are not common on the hides. Good hides produce fine leather.
The hides are tanned and treated in tanneries. Different methods produce different types of leather:
Aniline The finest leather is usually treated to aniline leather. It is dyed through and not surface treated and does not have a top coat, but only a thin layer of finish on the surface. The result is a fine natural leather surface with a lot of depth and natural color changes. The leather is incredibly soft and comfortable and has fantastic breathability, but is also very sensitive to all kinds of stains and dirt. Aniline requires maintenance, ideally it should be treated 3-4 times a year to maintain its properties. It is a good idea to apply a protective cream to make it more difficult for grease from skin and hair, stains and dirt to penetrate the leather.
Click here to access our Aniline Cleaning and Dyeing Kit
Pull-Up leather The same type of leather as aniline, with the difference that the leather has been treated and processed with different oils and fats, which gives the leather a special character. The name “pull-up” comes from the fact that when you stretch it, or “pull”, or stretch the leather tightly over, for example, a furniture frame, the leather changes color and character, which gives the leather a lot of life and luster. On some Pull-up leather, the surface is also treated with a special wax mixed with paraffin, which gives the leather additional character. Requires regular treatment with oils and conditioners to maintain its character. If the leather is maintained correctly, it will have a long life and a beautiful patina.
Semianiline Semi-aniline has undergone the same tanning process as aniline leather, but then a thin, covering layer of dye and finish has been applied to make the leather more durable and more resistant to stains and dirt, without significantly changing the natural softness and comfort of aniline.
Pigmented or dyed leather After tanning and dyeing, a surface of color and finish has been applied to the leather, which hides scars and marks in the leather and allows the use of leather of lower quality. The full-color surface makes the leather very resistant to dirt and wear, and the leather is also very easy to wipe off if it gets dirty or stains appear. The disadvantage is that the leather is no longer perceived as soft and comfortable, and its natural pattern and color have also disappeared and been replaced with a “flat” color without depth and variations. The leather no longer breathes as well, and it is more difficult to get conditioners and other softeners to penetrate the leather. Often a new pattern is embossed into the surface layer of the leather, especially common in car interiors.
Suede A leather hide has two sides, grain and suede. Grain is the side that is outward and is normally covered by the animal's fur. Suede is the inside of the hide, the flesh side. This is sanded to give a smooth and soft surface. Often the leather used for suede has too poor a grain to be used for high-quality leather, so it is chosen instead to be used as suede. Different animal hides give different qualities to the suede; for example, sheepskin suede, pigskin suede and cowhide suede.
The English name for suede, “suede”, originally comes from the French term “gants de suede”, which literally means gloves from Sweden, referring to a special type of soft gloves that were imported to France from Sweden during the first half of the 19th century. The term soon came to be used for all types of suede leather, regardless of origin.
Suede does not have the same protective surface as the grain side of leather, and is therefore more difficult to maintain. Because it gets dirty easily, suede is rarely used in furniture, but its soft and comfortable surface makes the material very popular among clothing and shoe manufacturers.
Click here to go to our suede products page
Nubuck Nubuck is aniline sanded, which gives a velvety smooth surface, but also makes it difficult to clean and maintain the leather, as the surface no longer has any protective coating. Lightfastness is poor and the leather is prone to discoloration.
Bycast A hide is divided, layered, into two different layers. The upper part, the skin side, is called grain leather and this is used for slightly higher quality leather, e.g. aniline, etc. The lower part of the hide is called split leather and is slightly cheaper than grain leather and does not have the same breathability and flexibility.
Split leather is made bycast, which means that the leather is laminated with a surface of polyurethane plastic and embossed with a “leather pattern”. This usually gives a shiny and slightly plastic surface. Because the surface is covered with a plastic coating, there is no need to maintain the leather with balm, conditioner, or other softening agent, it simply cannot penetrate the surface and is therefore unnecessary. What you can do is maintain and clean the surface of the bycast leather, for example by applying a protective cream that prevents dirt and stains from adhering and makes it easier to keep clean.
Bycast leather has a shorter lifespan than real leather, as its surface is made of plastic and cannot be maintained, and the laminated plastic surface tends to crack and start to peel after a few years of wear. Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done about this damage.
