How do you identify an original upholstery leather in Nigeria? Original upholstery leather should have a unique grain pattern and texture. It should also have a natural smell, and be soft and supple. Ordinary leather will have a chemical smell, and be stiff and plastic-like.
Several other methods can also be used to identify whether the upholstery leather is fake or not. In this article, we give you tips on how best to determine the genuineness of the upholstery for your furniture.
1. The Secret is in the Label
It can sometimes be difficult to determine if an upholstery is genuine leather or not, especially when you are not versed in how these materials are classified.
If you are in that position, one of the easiest ways to make the identification is to check the label. It has become a practice among upholstery manufacturers to specify the type of material they used for the piece.
Here are examples of the terms, labels or tags that specify that the upholstery uses genuine leather:
- Made with animal products
- Pure aniline
- Pigmented leather
- Real leather
- Full grain leather
It is also possible that the manufacturer will use the exact words, “genuine leather” to specify that the material is made from actual leather.
Yet, it is also possible that the upholstery didn’t come from animal skin or any of the aforementioned leather sources. If that is the case, it is up to the manufacturer to specify the alternative leather used for the upholstery.
Below are some of the examples of upholstery labels that denote fake or ungenuine leather:
- Manmade material
- Polyester
- Synthetic
2. Put the Upholstery Leather to a Fire Test
This is an experiment taken too far, but you are looking to pay for quality so saving yourself the pain of buying something you didn’t want can be worth it.
There is a chance that you doubt that the upholstery is made from genuine leather. If that’s the case, you want to subject it to a “fire test.”
As the name denotes, you are to expose the material to fire. While at it, you want to look for two things – the extent of the burn and the smell that comes from it. Ideally, the upholstery wouldn’t burn so much, because of the thickness. Also, it tends to give out a “smell of burnt hair.”
If that doesn’t come forth and instead you have the material burning faster and smelling like burnt plastic, it is a synthetic upholstery.
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3. Don’t Burn or Read the Label – Just Touch
This is also one of the simplest ways to determine whether an upholstery is from real leather or not. Rather than putting it to a fire test or reading the label, you can simply touch the material.
Here are a couple of things that will certify the material is genuine:
Stretchability
Can the material be stretched a few inches? If so, you can consider it to be real leather, because fake or synthetic is not stretchable.
How Does it Feel?
Touch the material’s surface and take note of how it feels on your touch. Genuine leather usually feels warm and has that “warmth” emanating from it because of its thickness.
Check for Strands as You Touch
Most upholstery companies are now making conscious efforts to produce original materials that are almost similar to leather.
However, they haven’t been able to get around to fixing the edges of the material to feel like real leather.
Typically, upholstery made from genuine leather has a “grainy feel” when you touch it and that is because of the roughness of the edges. This is because the material (leather) is made of many strands and many of these strands are fraying at the edges.
On the contrary, synthetic upholstery has a “smoothened” edge, because of the machines used to make them.
4. Does the Upholstery “Breathe?”
Remember that by real leather, we mostly make reference to animal skin. Thus, it is expected of the upholstery to “breathe” in the sense that it has pores, which are the same pores as the hides of the animals used to make it.
You don’t want to be tricked by the gimmicks of upholstery manufacturing companies that try to make pores into the material, but end up having repetitive or even patterns.
It is easier to detect genuine leather pores because of the uneven patterns, as the upholstery can be turned in different directions while making it.
5. Use the “Water Test”
Real leather can still retain its state even after it is exposed to water. To test for this, drop a small amount of water on the upholstery’s surface. If it absorbs the water faster, it is genuine leather, but if it doesn’t, take it to be a synthetic material.
Which Upholstery Material is the Best?
There are lots of upholstery types you can choose from and they are made from genuine leather. Below are some of them:
Full-Grain Leather
This is a type of upholstery leather that is both high-end and more durable. It is typical of the full-grain leather to have more pores on the top layer of the material.
Split Leather
This is a combination of affordability and division. The split upholstery leather has two layers, with the split being the lower part.
The split is further dyed and ground and either pigmented or left to be in the suede state. One of the attributes of split upholstery leather is the inability to identify it faster after it must have been finished with any of the upholstery finishing processes.
Corrected-Grain Leather
The overall goal of this type of upholstery leather is to cover or prevent the defects from a glance. This comes in handy when the original state is distorted and has lots of defects, which could make the material appear awkward.
To that end, using superficial prints or pigments will help protect these defects and unify the material’s appearance.
The corrected-grain leather is a mid-range upholstery material, that is a bit higher-priced than the split leather and less expensive than the full-grain leather.
Final Words
The comparison between real and fake leather continues to go and the upholstery manufacturers have continued to “up their game” at improvising the original leather. However, if you must get the best leather for your upholstery, go for the one that can absorb water faster, has a musty smell when you put it to your nose and which can hold up to fire when burnt for a few seconds.
Are you in Nigeria and would like to place an order for an original upholstery leather in Lagos or Aba for as many yards as you want? Reach out to Nestken Masters today using this Google Map or call Mr. Ernest at +2348039388366. We offer free delivery (terms & conditions apply).