While you’re shopping around for a new stylish women’s wallet, you may notice that you’ll have to decide between not just types of leather, but real and fake leather. Seeing as a designer wallet is usually quite a high investment, it’s important to make a prudent decision to help your investment last longer.
What’s Genuine Leather?
Genuine leather is made from animal hides. This usually means cowhides, but it can also include the hides from other animals including sheep, deer, buffalo, and moose to name a few. Leather has been a material made by humans for hundreds of years, and is proven to be durable, waterproof, and mold-proof naturally.
Within leather, there are also different classifications. Full-grain and top-grain leather are often used in luxury items.
What’s Faux Leather?
Faux leather, or fake leather, is made without animal products, so it can sometimes be marketed as vegan leather. It’s made of plastic polymers, PU or polyvinyl chloride is used to make fake leather. There are no internal classifications for fake leather, and it’s a relatively new addition to the market, and will often cost much less than real leather.
What Are the Differences Between Real & Fake Leather?
Now that you understand the fundamental difference between each type of leather, let’s take a better look at why people choose one over the other in terms of luxury products.
Durability
This is the biggest difference between real and fake leather. Cow leather or any type of genuine leather is exceptionally durable. It doesn’t crack or peel over time, which means your luxury wallet only looks better over time. Fake leather on the other hand does peel and break down much faster, and this is because it is not made of such natural materials.
Look, Feel & Smell
Real leather has a very unique look and feel. It has a natural appearance with natural imperfections that makes each piece unique. The texture is smooth and sturdy, and there should be a pleasant scent that comes around from the age-old methods involved in treating the leather.
On the other hand, faux leather will feel much more sturdy than real leather, often with a little grating as well. It also has a perfect texture, as it’s a synthetic material, and it also comes in more colors. The issue is however that fake leather has a very district plastic scent that doesn’t often go away, even with use.
Sustainability
The process of making real leather is resource-consuming and time-consuming, however, does not often use harsh chemicals, with the only harsh chemical used often being a lime wash or dying. On the other hand, the faux leather process uses plastics that are not eco-friendly, but the creation of the material uses less resources.
Beyond this, however, it’s important to note that leather items rarely make it to landfill, and if they do, they will break down naturally over time as it’s a natural material. Often, leather is recycled, or handed down through families due to its durability. On the other hand, fake leather breaks down fast, so it’s not used for as long and must be discarded often.
Maintenance & Cleaning
PU leather is often easier to clean than real leather, which requires specialized equipment to treat and clean. This is why many choose PU leather. But no matter how much you clean it, it will break down sooner, so leather (though it needs more care) will be worth it in the long run.
Now that you understand why luxury houses prefer real leather, you can see why top brands like LV Sydney prefer to offer women wallets in leather or canvas, instead of fake leather.
Apart from that, if you are interested to know about 10 Amazing Leather-Gift Ideas for Her then visit our Fashion category.
