The Main Application Of Leather Fabric

What Is Leather Fabric Used For

There are many uses for leather goods and leather products include clothing, and home decor.

1. Clothing: Leather is used frequently for clothing items like leather jackets, leather pants, leather dresses, leather blouses, and more.

2. Shoes: Since leather is a durable and attractive fabric, leather shoes are a popular item. Leather is used to make a variety of footwear, from boots to loafers to high heels.

3. Furniture: Leather is a popular upholstery material for couches, chairs. Car seats are often also upholstered in leather, and a leather interior is often standard in luxury vehicles.

4. Bookbinding: Leather is a popular material for binding hardcover books and is used for some book covers. Most leather used for bookbinding is vegetable-tanned, as this makes the leather soft, supple, and easily embossed with information on the book’s spine.

Different Types of Leather Fabric

Top grain leather fabric is the thickest and most durable type of leather because this type of leather includes the outside layer of the hide, which is referred to as the grain. There are a few types of top-grain leather, including full-grain, corrected grain, and nubuck.

1. Full-grain is considered the highest quality leather fabric because it includes all of the grain, which makes it very durable.

2. Corrected-grain leather fabric still includes the top grain, but the grain has been treated or sanded to create a more cohesive appearance and eliminate some of the flaws in the leather.

3. The grain side of nubuck is sanded down to give it a smooth appearance, almost like suede.

Split leather fabric is made from the leftofter leather, called the corium, after the top grain is removed. It is not as strong and durable as top-grain leather, but it tends to be softer and smoother without the top grain. Types of split leather include suede, bi-cast leather, and patent leather.

1. Suede is made from the underside of the animal skin, which has a soft, smooth nap, and it is usually made from younger animals, as older animals’ skin tends to be rougher.

2. Bi-cast leather has a layer of vinyl added to it, which gives it the appearance of full-grain leather, but this makes it stiffer and not as high quality.

3. Patent leather has a lacquered finish added to give it to give it a smooth and shiny appearance.

Other types of leather include:

1. Bonded leather - Bonded leather is made by taking leather scraps and fusing them together to create the appearance of a full sheet of leather.

2. Faux leather - This isn’t a type of real leather because it’s not made from animal skins and is made from synthetic materials instead. It is made from a plastic base and treated to look like leather, though it doesn’t have the same durability and porous nature as real leather. While this type of leather is cruelty-free, it does have some environmental impact from the production of man-made materials.

Importance of Leather Fabric

Leather has provided mankind with fundamental needs since the beginning of time. Leather has played a significant role in providing clothing, shelter, footwear and seating throughout history. Although it has evolved into a luxury material it is the inherent nature of its properties that has drawn people to it through the ages.

Leather Breathes

Leather is soft and flexible and at the same time it is one of the strongest natural flat sheet materials that exist in the world. The breathing characteristics of leather fibres create the most comfortable and softest natural material available. The hand and texture of leather differentiates it from any other material. Comfort-Longevity-Luxury these are the unique characteristics of top quality upholstery leather.

Size and Cut

Leather comes in many different cuts and sizes that vary on the type of animal it is coming from. It is important to know the averages sizes for different cuts of hides to properly understand how your design piece might be made and how many hides it will require.

Leather Fabric Features

Water-Resistant

Leather can be made to absorb water, resist water or be completely waterproof. Most leathers manufactured for the shoe, bag, upholstery and leather goods industries offer a degree of water resistance that enables the leather to get wet yet, after drying, retain the properties of elasticity and shape. Many leathers for leather goods are treated to avoid marks from water spotting in light rain. 

Thickness

Skins produce thin leathers that can be used for bookbinding, gloves, lining and garments; they have outstanding softness. 

Cow leather can have a great variation of thicknesses because they can be split in layers. When split thin, leathers can be used for garment, gloves and leather goods. Medium thickness leathers, on the other hand, are more widely used for upholstery, automotive parts, shoes, bags and leather goods, whereas thick leathers are used for footwear soles and crafts.

Softness

The softness of a leather is usually associated with its thickness. The thinner the leather, the softer it will be. But there are other variables that make leather softer, particularly the type of tannage: generally speaking chrome tanned will be softer; aldehyde type tanning less soft and vegetable tanned leather firmer. 

Water Absorption & Desorption (release of absorbed moisture) 

This is one of leather’s unique properties, allowing the leather to absorb the moisture and with time release it into the environment. For shoes, this property creates outstanding comfort that is not replicated by any other material. Perspiration is drawn from the foot into the leather and then evaporates from the outer surface of the shoe. 

Water Vapor Permeability 

Often called ‘breathability’, this characteristic allows moisture and air to permeate through the leather. This property is particularly important for shoes’ comfort; as the foot sweats it can produce large amounts of moisture that move through the leather to the outside, keeping the inside of the shoe drier and more comfortable, with a lower moisture level. Waterproof leathers that are engineered to maintain breathability while providing protection from wet conditions will provide an outstanding combined performance.