The Right Way to Choose and Buy Your Leather

July 19, 2020

Buying leather is a tricky task even for a leather expert. It requires a keen eye for recognizing good quality leather. A layman usually gets confused as these days fake leather known as faux leather looks identical to real leather. Another point to consider is the type and quality of leather. The type and quality vary from skin to skin and from animal to animal.

Being a leather design student, it is important to have some knowledge about leather.

You might have heard different types of names such as full-grain, top-grain, real or genuine leather. These are simply different types of leather-based on their quality. The leather of Sheep, Goat, Buffalo, Cow and other cattle is generally used in making products.

After having some knowledge about leather, you can design your product accordingly. The choice of leather would depend on the product one is making, is it a soft or hard, shape, design, product behavior and life.

Once the leather and design is finalized, it is essential to know the unit measurement for buying leather. Leather is measured in square feet (Sq ft) or square decimetre (Sq dm).

The price depends on the quality, the animal and the area where it is made (like is it made in Kanpur, Kolkata, Jalandhar or Chennai).

While buying the leather there are certain points to consider. Leather is a natural material and it has certain characteristics like vein marks, growth mark, pox marks, cut marks etc. These don’t affect the performance of the leather. You should also consider the texture, thickness, quality, etc.

So these are the certain things in mind to keep while buying the leather.

Author:
Mohd. Kashif, Assistant Professor, Lifestyle Accessory Department, Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID)

Disclaimer: The opinions / views expressed in this article are solely of the author in his / her individual capacity. They do not purport to reflect the opinions and/or views of the College and/or University or its members.