How to find high quality leather: Looking beyond ‘Genuine Leather’
Leather is one of the most beautiful natural materials and man’s love affair with leather has continued through the ages. The smell, the feel and the look of good leather holds a strange power over me. I am a leather craftsman, and whenever I enter my workshop, I feel like I have gone back into an era where life was slower, more thoughtful and things lasted forever.

Many of us are fascinated with leather and take pride in owning high quality leather goods. Problem is, buying leather goods can feel like tossing a coin. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
I first dived into the world of leather-working three years ago. I have learned a few simple but important basics about leather, which I passionately feel everyone should know about.
What is Genuine Leather?

When you go leather shopping to a departmental store or a leather boutique, like most avid leather shoppers, you have probably noticed the familiar ‘genuine leather’ tag on a leather item.
What does the ‘Genuine Leather’ tag stand for?
Genuine Leather, quite simply, indicates the fact that a product is made with real leather; it assures you that the product is not made with plastic or rexine or any artificial materials.
So, isn’t that good enough? Ask any good leather craftsperson worth his/her salt, or a true blue leather aficionado, and the answer will be a resounding “No!”.
The ‘Genuine Leather’ tag tells you nothing about the quality of the leather you are about to spend your hard-earned money on. It does not tell you which animal the leather came from. It does not tell you how thick the leather is. It does not indicate how long it will last….I think you get my drift here.
Rewind to a couple of decades ago. Genuine Leather didn’t always have such a bad reputation. It genuinely signified a mark of authenticity and high quality. So what changed? Over the past two decades, our consumption of leather goods (and stuff, in general) increased many-fold. The demand for leather rose. Cost took precedence over quality and the most heavily discounted products sold the fastest. In this world of instant gratification and ‘value’ for money, most leather goods started being made with the lowest grade of leather, and that too, with poor production techniques. Legally, all sorts of leather can be called ‘genuine leather’. And so, as more and more cheap leather goods flooded the market, the label ‘genuine leather’ has become diluted over the years.
Today, if you are looking for authentic high quality leather, you should run far away from a product with only a ‘genuine leather’ tag and no other associated information. 9 times out of 10, such products are made with split leather, the cheapest real leather in terms of quality and price.
What you need to be looking for is full grain leather or corrected grain leather. Today, less than 10% of leather goods in this world are made using these grades of leather. That should give you a hint about their exclusivity.
So, let’s understand a bit more about different grades of leather. There are three basic grades of leather — full grain, top grain (corrected grain), split, irrespective of which animal the hide comes from. :
Basically, all grades of leather, right from the most exclusive to the cheapest quality are all derived from this same hide. What matters is what section of the hide the leather is made from. Tanning — the process of converting a hide into leather — also matters, but not so much as which section of the hide the leather comes from.

This picture shows a beautiful leather hide, full processed and tanned. This particular hide happens to be a vegetable-tanned cow hide from Wickett & Craig. A North-American leather hide, right after tanning is usually 6–8 mm thick. That’s really thick! No dyes or pigments have been applied on it. Look at how rich and heavy it looks. The beautiful pattern on the hide is all natural. The color comes from the natural tannins used in the vegetable tanning process.
Take a closer look at this zoomed in view I have clicked of the hide (below). You will see three distinct layers — the grain, the corium and the flesh. The topmost layer (grain) is the cream of the crop. This is the strongest, most beautiful section of the hide. Notice all the tiny pores on this layer. Also notice the tight, inter-twined fibrous ‘corium’, and the last of all, the thinnest section — the flesh.

What is Full-Grain Leather?
Full grain leather is the most breathable and natural form of leather that undergoes minimal processing after tanning. It includes the topmost layer of the hide, called the ‘Grain’. This Grain is what imparts strength, beauty and character to leather. Full grain leather is used to make very long lasting, very sought-after leather products.
The main characteristic of full grain leather is that you can see unique markings; no two hides are the same. On most hides, there may be little scars, insect bites and folds in the skin acquired by an animal over its lifetime.
Consequently, hides that are blemish-free and smooth are the most sought-after. The highest quality full grain leather is derived from such defect-free hides. Hides with blemishes, insect bites, and other markings are usually not considered to be top quality, cosmetically speaking. In terms of reliability and strength, there is no difference between blemish-free hides and a marked hide, like the one in the picture below.

A combination of full grain leather and vegetable tanning produces a beautiful patina gradually over time. This leather also endures abrasion very well. The two wallets pictured below are identical. I made both of them in my workshop. Except, I have been using the wallet on the top for the last three years. The other wallet is newly made and has not yet weathered the effects of the sun, sweat, abrasion and life, in general!

This patina is unique to full grain leather. On the other hand, top grain and split leather have a polymer-based coating on top which protects it from the elements, but also means that they don’t develop a patina over time.
What is Top Grain Leather?
Top grain, also known as corrected grain leather is derived from full grain leather which has too many scars, insect bites or branding marks. Such leather may not be deemed fit (cosmetically) for use in its natural, unfinished state. So, to make it look more uniform, the grain is sanded off and polished. Top Grain leather is almost as good as full grain leather. Many times, a new texture is superimposed on it. This produces many fashion-forward variants of leather, but compromises the strength and durability to an extent.
Shown below is an example of wallet made with top-grain leather.

Wait a sec! Isn’t this crocodile leather? This is a beautifully crafted wallet by Ettinger. It has a very natural-looking crocodile skin print superimposed on top grain leather. What I love about this brand is their superior craftsmanship and honest communication.
Some brands may try to pass off such a leather product as more expensive crocodile leather, or worse, unknowingly call it crocodile leather since they are unaware about the type of leather used by their manufacturer.
What is Split Leather?
Leather with the grain stripped away is called split leather. Take a look at the picture below. This picture shows a strip of leather that comes from the flesh side of the hide. No grain on top.

Notice how thick this split leather is and it’s coarse texture on both sides since the upper grain has been stripped away.
It is further put to use by splitting into multiple layers, mostly between 0.5–0.8 mm. That’s a really thin layer of leather — one of the main reasons items made with split leather are not durable!
Because there is no grain on any of these split layers, the splits are very brittle and if pulled at, it will come apart. Naturally, it cannot be used in this form to make leather goods. These split hides are heavily processed and stuffed with chemicals to create supple and pliable genuine leather, used in most products in the retail industry.
All that is needed now is to make this split layer look like real full grain leather. No problem! A common industrial process is employed to heat press a grain pattern over the split layer. Once done, the finished product looks like it actually has a grain on it, sometime looking deceptively similar to full grain leather! What’s more, since this pattern is machine embossed, any desired patterns can be embossed on any base leather. For example, a split leather from a buffalo hide could be passed off as a more exotic leather like an aligator skin or ostrich leather due to the embossed print on it.
Price vs. Quality — Full Grain Leather or Genuine Leather?
There is a high demand for split leather to manufacture low-cost, mass-produced items for the retail industry. Most genuine leather products in the market are made with split leather.
At first glance of a brand new product, say a handbag, you may not be able to tell the difference between well-finished split leather bag, and a full grain leather bag, unless you have an expert take a really close look at it.
Why bother to buy full grain leather, then?
Someone wise once said “When you buy expensive, you cry only once. When you buy cheap, you cry over and over again”.
Split leather may be somewhat cheaper than full grain leather and top grain leather but it usually does not last beyond 2–3 years of daily use, especially since a very thin layer of leather is used on most products. Peeling and cracking are common. When you buy full grain leather, you can rest assured that you have made a sound investment in a valuable possession. It is the best grade of leather money can buy.
Products made with full grain leather are often more expensive, but not necessarily out of reach. If you shop directly from leather makers and cut out the middlemen, you can buy a beautiful leather item an equivalent or slightly higher price of a big-brand genuine leather (split) (or worse, faux leather or vegan leather, a clever name for PU leather) wallet from a high end store.
Craftsmanship also plays a big role in the life of the product, but that’s true in either case, whether you buy split-derived leather or full grain leather. Refined quality and highly skilled craftsmanship usually goes hand in hand with full grain leather.
Ah the joy I feel working with full grain leather. It looks and feels beautiful, gets better with age, is reliable AND does not end up in a landfill within a year!
Once you use a full grain leather item, there is no turning back. You will never go back to ‘genuine’ leather.
So, what’s your next full grain leather purchase going to be?
Where can you buy high quality, full grain leather goods? I’ll share some tips to help you make a more informed purchase the next time you go leather shopping. Stay tuned for my next post, where I will talk more about this. In the meantime, leave me a comment and I’m happy to give my two cents on any questions you have. Till then, 🍻
