Everyone is familiar with leather, but there are countless leathers in the world. What is really good leather? In this paper, leather will be classified, hoping to help you buy leather products that you like, with high quality and high cost performance.
What is good leather?
There are countless leather products in the world, such as leather bags, leather shoes, automobile interiors, mouse pads and saddles, but is there a unified standard to define what good leather is? I’m here to say the conclusion directly:
- Clear and fine pores (high density)
- The texture is oily (full of oil)
- No finish or thin finish (related to texture and color, which is more professional, so don’t spread it out first, which is specifically mentioned in the finishing part)
CONNOLLY’s Vaumol series are used by Rolls-Royce in the British, you can clearly see the pores of leather, which are clear and fine.
The price quoted at the dealer is about 320 Australian dollars per square meter, which is about 11 square feet, and it is about 135 yuan per square foot, which means that the leather as big as 30×30 will cost 135 yuan. Interestingly, this price is similar to the regular price of Barenia which Hermes loves to use.
The interior of the Rolls-Royce classic car can feel that the leather is very oily from a distance, which is the result of a unique tanning method.
Compared with Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the improvement brought by this kind of leather is not a little bit, and because the leather hides and tanning methods are top-notch, even if it is used for so long, it can be seen that this kind of leather only has a slight wear on the surface coating, which is very durable.
Top-grade leather should be able to see clear and fine pores with naked eyes without a magnifying glass. As for the greasy feeling, it should also look very oily naturally without touching oil. Of course, good leather with good oil is the icing on the cake. The problem of finishing will be specifically discussed later.
As for the coating problem mentioned in the third point, it involves some professional knowledge. Simply speaking, most leather surfaces are coated, which is why when you sprinkle water on them, most of the time water will not penetrate into the leather immediately. If water can be absorbed at once, it means there is no coating or the coating is very thin.
Non-coating crocodile leather, water can be absorbed immediately. The leather used in the old Rolls Royce is coated, but it is lightly coated, so it is good if there is no coating or light coating.
By Category
How to classify leather? First of all, we classify according to the types of finished products, which is also the most familiar way for everyone, and does not involve any professional knowledge.
The picture shows the classification of leather by HAAS (a subsidiary of Chanel, but also supplied to Hermes and Moynet), the world’s top leather factory. They divided leather into five categories, namely leathergoods, shoes, saddlery, garment and watch straps. There is still one missing item in this classification, that is, furniture/interior leather. So we can divide all leathers into the following six categories:
- Bags
- Shoes
- Saddlery
- Garment
- Watch strap
- Interior
By Country
Seeing this, some friends may wonder why HAAS, as the world’s top leather factory, doesn’t produce automobile interiors. Here, we will talk about the knowledge of automobile interiors.
Before 2010, both Bentley and Rolls-Royce used VAUMOL series leather produced by CONNOLLY Company in the UK, but after 2010, both brands were replaced with leather produced in Italy and Germany (British leather was not used since Phantom 7 and a half generations), which is why if you look at the interior of the car carefully, you will find that Bentley and Rolls-Royce produced before 2010 are generally very positive in color. The leather is extremely oily, but after 2010, the interiors of Bentley and Rolls-Royce don’t look so bright, and the leather doesn’t look so oily. Of course, I will introduce this in detail later. What I want to say here is that the countries that produce top leather in the world are basically concentrated in Europe. If classified by country, the top leather can be divided into the following categories:
- English leather
- French leather
- Italian leather
- German leather
English Leather
The style of British leather is very conservative, but the leather from the top leather factory must be fine, and it will never cut corners on the leather. The leather of the interior leather produced by CONNOLLY Leather Factory is unmatched in the world (viewed from a professional perspective), and its various vegetable tanned leather is also expensive. As the world leader and the pioneer of industrial and commercial civilization, he has always been at the top of the pyramid in tanning leather technology. However, due to the hollowing out of the industry caused by Britain’s neo-liberal economy, many leather production shares have been taken away by other countries. For example, the top three formal shoes in Britain use uppers made in Britain and France.
However, as long as it is made (tanned) in England, it must be top-notch. British leather is mainly concentrated in the field of automobile interior. Let me explain here that top leather for leather shoes and bags can also be produced in France and Italy, but in the field of furniture and interior, the top leather materials are all British.
Bentley Arnage’s interior, not only the seats, but also the pillars and the roof of the car are all wrapped in full leather. Now, except Rolls-Royce, almost no car will wrap the pillar and the above parts with leather, and many seat wrapping processes also use glue. Someone has dismantled the seat of Ferrari F12 on the oil pipe, so you can go and see for yourself.
Whether it’s Vaumol from CONNOLLY England, or Zermatt from HAAS, Naturelle and Barenia, it shows different effects under different light and distances, which is what top leather is worth pondering, but Togo and Epsom don’t have this characteristic.
Rolls-Royce’s interior design and materials did not change much until it was acquired by the Germans. Not only Bentley and Rolls-Royce, but also many minority car brands in Britain, such as the early ROVER, MG, Triumph, Daimler, etc., all of which used leather produced by CONNOLLY Leather Factory.
The early Ferrari and Maserati interiors were also produced by CONNOLLY, and there are color cards on ebay, which is why the leather of the early Ferrari interiors looks much more luxurious than that of the current Ferrari. There is still a difference between the leather of 25 feet and the leather of 135 feet.
The leather of British furniture is naturally unique in the world. Of course, there are only CONNOLLY’s left now.
This chair present in the film should have been produced around 1950. The leather of this chair can’t be completely disassembled, and you can’t guarantee that there will be a label on the back of the leather when it is disassembled, but the raw leather and tanning method used should be the same as CONNOLLY’s VAUMOL series, and the leather color is pure and oily.
This is a very typical British-style decoration, furniture made of top leather. In order to match the dark brown oak log floor and log wallboard, brown leather furniture is selected. There are all kinds of small ornaments with exquisite design and materials on the table, wool carpets on the ground and warm wall lamps on the wall.
In fact, buying British antiques is very cost-effective. Compared with modern furniture made of leather materials with a price of 100,000 to 200,000 yuan, the top antique leather chairs in Britain are only a few thousand, and the most expensive Chester sofa is not more than 20,000 yuan.
The aged leather can be repaired with color lock as long as it is not cracked too much.
The mat on the table is Naturelle from HAAS, and the tray is BARENIA from HAAS connected with Zermatt as lining.
You can see very clear pores at close distance.
The seats in the British House of Lords are still Vaumol series, and so are the green seats in the House of Commons.
The chair is Queen Anne’s armchair, made of top leather.
British furniture likes brown, while car interior prefers beige. Of course, no matter what color you use, it must be the top leather.
French Leather
France is a place that can’t be avoided when it comes to the fashion industry. People’s basic life is nothing more than food, clothing, housing and transportation. Britain is a top-notch place except food, and France is food, clothing and shelter. In addition to not producing top-class automobile interiors, its leather materials are top-class in the world in the other five fields. Of course, the top luxury brand in France belongs to HERMES, so the top leather factory is HAAS, and there should be another one that does vegetable tanning, but I am not very clear about the name of the factory. Let’s introduce French leather goods according to the leather used by Hermes.
Barenia (the name used by Hermes), also known as saddle leather, should be the leather used by Hermes to make saddles originally. However, its producer, HAAS calls it Novocalf
Kelly Depeches in Barenia leather
Barenia is very suitable for making leather goods with extraordinary texture. It is oily, rich in color and with clear pores.
Zermatt leather produced by HAAS was specially developed for the ultimate touch, and is the lining chosen by Hermes for the strap of Apple Watch and mouse pads.
Hermès loves colour golden brown, and Barenia, Zermatt and Naturelle all offer this colour.
Speaking of France, you can’t avoid leather jackets. The best leather jackets in France are provided by Hermes, Zilli and Seraphin (this brand is Hermes OEM leather clothes, similar to belvest OEM suits for Hermes), etc., and all roads lead to the same goal. The leather used for leather clothes produced by HAAS was bought out by them. Of course, HAAS is not the only top leather factory in France.
The picture shows the sheepskin leather jacket produced by Seraphin. If you look at the lower right corner carefully, you can see extremely clear pores. The leather jackets produced by Corneliani, Canali, Zegna and Pal Zileri are far from this, which is why the truly top-notch things are still top-notch, which can give you irreplaceable texture.
When talking about France, you can’t avoid leather shoes, which is also the favorite of many gentlemen. The picture shows the French professional leather shoes brand J.M.WESTON, which is a very typical French derby shoe, very similar to Dover of EG. Dover is a British port near France. Why didn’t you talk about leather shoes when you talked about Britain? This is because the leather factory in Britain is almost CONNOLLY in the automobile interior industry, and there are several vegetable tanning leather factories that produce reins leather, etc. The leather (upper) for leather shoes is almost not produced in Britain itself, and most of the leather (upper) for leather shoes is produced in Germany and France. When introducing the leather in Germany, it will be introduced in detail. It is really that the British brand does not use British raw materials. Of course, the leather for uppers can only be understood. Under normal circumstances, the top leather for uppers will not flow into the market in large quantities, because they are all taken away by major brands.
The leather for uppers produced by HAAS has a pile of leather materials on it, but unlike the leathers such as Barenia, Togo, Epsom, Zermatt and Ervercolor, which are familiar, even the seasoned players in the leather industry have never heard the names on the list, which only shows that these leathers were bought out when they were produced.
When buying French products, I prefer niche brands, and it is best not to buy fashion luxury brands. The professional things made by the French are still very top-notch.
The leather used for the uppers is from Annonay, another tannery owned by Hermes.
It has full and semi-aniline coating, separately Vegano and Vocalou.
Italian leather
When it comes to Italy, many suit lovers will think of Rome, Florence, Milan and Naples. In fact, there are more than suits. Italy has produced a considerable part of luxury goods in the world, from leather shoes and purses to Ferrari and Pagani. Naturally, there are many things to be made of leather.
Vegetable tanned leather in Tuscany is very complicated. To buy leather, you should not only look for this sign, but also find a reliable leather dealer.
Generally, Tuscan vegetable tanned leather is uncoated and can absorb water, but its style is too rough and lacks the exquisite feeling of British leather and French leather, but it is also top-notch from the leather point of view.
A well-known Italian manufacturer belongs to Schedoni. Maybe you are unfamiliar with Schedoni, but when it comes to Ferrari, Bugatti and pagani, you must be familiar with it. Schedoni is specialized in making luggage for these super sports cars. The early Schedoni used vegetable tanned leather from Tuscany, Italy. The picture shows the early products, and you can see that there are natural growth line on the products. Of course, all of them have been replaced with low-cost chrome tanned leather. There is also a top A brand in Italy, I forget what it is called, and there are Gulf Crocodile products. The quality of the bags of other fashion brands is uneven, which is also the consistent style of Italy.
When it comes to Italy, leather shoes are indispensable. The picture shows Italy’s Artioli, which is relatively top-notch in terms of leather. Putin, George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein and the Pope are all loyal customers. However, although you can see that the leather pores are clear and the black is very black and very oily, it is a blake process. Perhaps Italians prefer light shoes. Italy’s Goodyear top leather shoes include KITON, Antonio Meccariello (former chief shoemaker of KITON) and Lang Danze (OEM for Kiton).
Italy’s leather clothes, of course, also have a very luxurious brand KITON, and the quality of other leather clothes is uneven. Here you can recommend a brand called RVL, just as Antonio Meccariello and Lattanzi are inextricably linked with KITON. RVL’s boss is KITON’s former leather director, and he is familiar with the resources in the industry. The leather used should be of good quality.
As mentioned above, English leather is no longer used by Bentley or Rolls Royce. What Bentley uses now is Italian PASUBIO. In fact, almost all the interior leather of luxury cars is made in Germany and Italy.
The picture shows PASUBIO’s leather.
PASUBIO’s customer list is far below CONNOLLY’s, but it is far better than the leather used in ordinary cars. I think the texture of PASUBIO’s Nappa leather (plain chrome tanning) is about the same as that of Hermes’ Swift, while CONNOLLY’s leather (tanning method is very complicated) is very similar to that of Barenia.
When it comes to Italy, we can’t help but talk about the furniture industry. Most of the general furniture in the world is made by China, while most of the high-end furniture is made by Italy. The well-known ones are Poltrona Frau, B&B, Baxter, etc. In fact, Poltrona Frau (hereinafter referred to as PF) also has an automobile interior design department. Of course, we don’t focus on aesthetic feeling this time, but go to find out what grade the leather is.
When we take a real shot of the leather, we can see that the general leather has been decorated a lot, and it is difficult to see very clear pores, but the color is still very positive. In fact, don’t think that the quality of luxury furniture in Italy is high. Basically, if you look at the quality of luxury car seats now, it is about the same as that of luxury furniture now, because the leather used is almost the same. Britain produces the top seats, so there must be top furniture. The market price of this kind of leather is about twenty or thirty-one feet. Compared with the leather with three figures and one foot, it is actually not advanced, but it is better than most unreliable leather materials.
The quality of the brand Poltrona Frau varies, ranging from very ordinary leather to leather with clear pores. Similar to BBA, there are not only stretched models, but also Maibakh S, 760 and Hoshi A8. Personally, I think that the British people are very particular about the choice of raw materials, while the British people are very conservative in designing and like to use the existing good designs, while the Italians are particular about the very novel designs, while the quality of the materials selected is uneven, which is good for a while and poor for a while.
The vegetable tanned leather in Tuscany, Italy, is mostly water-absorbent leather. The relevant regulations in Italy are very strict about the standard of leather coating, and the regulations of vegetable tanning alliance are even stricter. You can see that these black leather materials are very black. The top-class shoe Lippi is tanned in Tuscany, and the vegetable tanned leather can absorb sweat, and then it smells like tanning material and can be maintained with maintenance oil, so the top-class shoes will not have any odor after being worn more times. You can compare this black leather with the hammel leather below to see which one is darker.
German leather
As mentioned above, the top dress shoes brands in Britain no longer use the leather produced in Britain, because the industrial economy in Britain is hollowed out, and there are no top factories producing uppers in Britain itself. The top uppers are all produced in France and Germany, so when it comes to shoes and bags, it is dominated by German tannery Weinheimer.
There are two kinds of leather for uppers.
The first one is called Canton Calf, which has only one leather thickness. The two kinds of leather have different treatment methods. The coating of Canton has been treated with wax, and the leather grain surface described by the leather factory is milled, which means that it has been slightly trimmed, because clear pores can still be seen.
Second, the famous Box Calf, the word box is a tanning method. HAAS also offers box leather. It is said that this tanning method was learned from England. This kind of leather is full grain and has three thicknesses.
Speaking of Weinheimer, it is one of Hermes important suppliers, mainly providing Togo and Epsom. After zooming in, you can see that the pores are very clear.
There are Benz, BMW and Audi in Germany, and naturally there are also manufacturers of interior leather. The most famous one is Bader in Germany, which provides leather for BBA’s D-class cars. Compared with CONNOLLY in the UK, the quality is very average. The tanning of good leather is very complicated and time-consuming, but what is required now is that efficiency is not the ultimate quality.
That’s the end of the introduction of the classification by country. The conclusion is that almost all the top leather products are from Britain and France, because the famous manufacturers in Britain and France are basically top leather factories, while the quality in Germany and Italy is uneven, with high ceilings and low lower limits.
Coating
As mentioned above, leather can be divided into absorbent and non-absorbent. The absorbent is not necessarily top-grade, and the top-grade may also be non-absorbent. The key depends on the quality of hides and tanning technology.
Water-absorbing uncoated skin, I believe, has been said a lot above, such as uncoated crocodile skin, and the quality of crocodile skin is uneven, but uncoated crocodile skin should not be bad, such as Barenia of Hermes and many Italian Tuscan vegetable tanned leather.
It is impossible for the automobile interior leather not to be coated, otherwise it will be damaged after a period of time. However, CONNOLLY describes its finishing as light finishing, that is, the coating is very thin, which does not affect the pores of the leather at all, and completely retains the original grain surface (full grain means grain, which means leather grain surface in the leather industry).
The Togo skin of Hermes can’t be absorbed immediately with water, but the pores are very clear. It is not necessarily that uncoated leather is better than coated leather. VAUMOL of CONNOLLY is as expensive as Barenia, and the price of some absorbent leather is also very low. Coating is only a small standard to measure leather.
Whether a leather material is good or not, you must get it to know that the top leather material with the stretching technology is also very ugly. Finally, the design and technology of the finished product. It is also impossible to get a design and workmanship of stretching with top-grade leather. Almost all chrome tanned leather should be painted, good or bad, thick or thin.
Finishing actually involves color (color and luster), as mentioned above. The coating of leather needs chemical substances, as mentioned in Mr. Fu Pei’s article, which can be divided into solvent-based and water-based. In the 1980s and 1990s, Europe generally rectified the environment and gradually banned the use of oily coatings. There is a concept here. Many people think that technology is progressive, which is true, but sometimes there are exceptions, such as leather coating technology. Although it has promoted the development of environmental protection, it has also reduced the quality of leather, mainly in terms of color and luster. In terms of color, CONNOLLY’s boss (on the rich in the picture) commented on modern leather as chalky and matt. chalky means chalk, while Chalky means that the color of leather is not so pure, and matt means matte, that is, red is not so bright. That is, the color is very full), the black color is not so black, and so is the upper leather of leather shoes. All chrome tanned leather should adopt environmental protection technology now, so it is impossible to use oily finishing, so even the top-quality rawhide may not be as pure as the upper leather of the same grade used in leather shoes before the 1980 s after tanning.
Of course, environmental protection is more important than beauty.
Although the VAUMOL produced by CONNOLLY Company no longer uses oily solvent as coating, its technology has been improved. The VAUMOL leather produced after the 1990s is still oily and pure in color, which is why the top class is called the top class. According to the research of fans, it seems that the upper leather of black leather shoes is really not as black as before. However, the vegetable tanned leather in Tuscany and Barenia of Hermes have no such trouble at all, because they are uncoated and the tanning method is very traditional, which does not involve environmental protection issues.
Tanning method
The basic tanning methods are divided into chrome tanning and vegetable tanning, while Togo in Wan hammel is a compound tanning. It is noted in its official website that chrome tanning and vegetable tanning are only the most basic classification methods. What is in the specific tanning materials and how long it takes are trade secrets of other companies, and ordinary people cannot know it. Of course, we can infer something from the finished leather.
CONNOLLY’s official website doesn’t give out whether it is chrome tanning or vegetable tanning. I guess there should be a vegetable tanning and a process involving leather oil, otherwise it won’t be so shiny. This website says it is vegetable tanned leather. Of course, compared with the current luxury car interior leather, I believe that no matter what process, it must be much more complicated than the automobile interior leather produced in Germany and Italy.
HAAS’s description of its leather shows that Novocalf (Barenia) is tanned in a compound way, which belongs to soft vegetable tanning, that is, oil tanning+vegetable tanning. I guess CONNOLLY is a similar method, but with a finishing, because the texture of the two kinds of leather is really similar.
Interestingly, unlike the top leather for uppers, this kind of leather has entered the market in large quantities. Interested people can buy a small piece of leather or a mobile phone case made of it to feel the texture, while the top leather shoes, leather clothes and furniture leather are all bought out by Hermes, seraphin, zilli, Bugatti and john lobb. Because I’m not a practitioner, I’m sure I can’t say the specific and very detailed tanning technology. Practitioners are welcome to supplement it.
Leather Care
Leather materials are different from cloth materials. Whether it is cotton, linen or silk, it can be washed with water after it is dirty, while wool is professionally dry-cleaned. However, leather and wood, like stone, cannot be washed with water, but should be coated with professional maintenance oil. By the way, wood and stone, as we all know, wood is dry for a thousand years, wet for a thousand years, dry and wet for two or three years, and wood is extremely afraid of water, so it should be dried with a professional cleaner, and then coated with hard wax to protect the surface paint, while stone can not be cleaned and maintained with a professional stone maintenance agent. Leather, wood and stone, if often rubbed with water, will damage its surface, that is, the more it is rubbed, the worse it will get.
Here I would like to recommend Chamberlain leather milk. Why? Because this product contains less wax than Saphir Renovateur, if you don’t like the leather getting deeper and deeper, then leather milk is the best choice.
When their founders demonstrated how to use the product, he used vegetable tanned leather. After my seat and mouse pad were wiped with this product, I found that the effect was indeed better than that with Saphir Universal Creme. Saphire products contain mink oil, and the color of leather will become darker if it is rubbed too much, while Leather Milk has no such worry at all, because its oil is only a thin layer on the leather.
Leather can be divided into water-absorbing and non-water-absorbing, which is related to the coating. I suggest that whether it is water-absorbing or non-water-absorbing, you should consult the relevant information first to see if the maintenance agent you use is suitable for this kind of leather. Of course, leather milk should be suitable for all except suede.
You should prepare a sponge, first beat the oil evenly on the sea surface, and then oil the leather with a sponge or cotton cloth. Otherwise, if you meet absorbent leather, apply the oil directly on the leather and suck it in at once, which may cause uneven absorption.
I recommend several leather lotions from Saphir’s Sapphire series. Although some cases are not applicable, they are cheaper, and most leather materials can be used.
Creme 1925 is the best choice for blacking shoes.
Saphia’s nappa cream is very thin on leather, so it should be aimed at sheepskin leather.
Exotic leather is recommended to consult a reliable professional.
The humidity of the environment is very important, so it is suggested that air humidifiers should be kept in the north in spring, autumn and winter.
Leather is the skin of animals. In fact, it is similar to the principle of human skin. Both human skin and leather need a relatively humid environment. In winter, if the weather is dry, you should wear hand cream after washing your hands. In fact, you add lipids to the skin. In summer, when the air is humid, you don’t need to wear various oils. Expensive skin care products, such as La Mer, are actually mixed with secret recipes in lipid substances, which is very similar to leather care products. Care products are actually added with secret recipes in lipid substances. Of course, people’s skin actually depends mainly on exercise and diet, because people are alive, and the role of skin care products is still very small compared with exercise and diet. If you touch the leather sofa in summer, you will find that the feel is obviously smoother than that in winter.
Finally, there is sun protection, which is similar to human skin. Ultraviolet rays will damage protein, but I want to remind you that this is very important. Try not to use leather products on sunny days.
Leather Price
If you like handmade leather goods, the price of raw materials is very important. Let me list some leather prices.
Barenia
130 RMB/Foot
Zermatt
105 RMB/Foot
Naturelle
105 RMB/Foot
Pelle Conciata Al Vegetale In Toscananion
70-80 RMB/Foot
Togo
100 RMB/Foot
Pasubio
60-70 RMB/Foot
CONNOLLY Vaumol
135 RMB/Foot
Crocodile
Quality and price vary too much.
Shoe upper
Only by wholesale.
Handbag leather
You can tell the quality by looking at pores and grease. It is affordable and suitable for leatherwork enthusiasts, such as HAAS Caviar, HAAS BOX and Italy GR.
Deerskin
The best should be Italian, very suitable for gloves, soft.