{"id":6288,"date":"2014-09-08T05:58:34","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T12:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/?p=6288"},"modified":"2014-09-02T08:59:17","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T15:59:17","slug":"leather-an-investment-in-quality-durability-and-satisfaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/leather-an-investment-in-quality-durability-and-satisfaction\/","title":{"rendered":"Leather: An Investment in Quality, Durability and Satisfaction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Leather is considered a luxury material\u00a0and, as such, can be a costly investment. Because there are so many types and grades of leather,\u00a0whether you&#8217;re shopping for\u00a0clothing, footwear, accessories, luggage, handbags or furniture, it\u2019s important to know what you\u2019re looking at to ensure you get the quality you want at a fair price.<\/p>\n<h3>Leather facts<\/h3>\n<p>Leather is the skin of an animal that\u2019s been prepared in order to preserve it and to make it supple. That being said, all leather is not created equal. The most common leathers are made of, in descending order of popularity, cow, sheep, goat, and pig. The fact that an item is made of leather, however, does not ensure that it&#8217;s a quality piece. Many factors go into determining high quality, valuable and durable leather goods.<\/p>\n<h3>Determining leather quality<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Leather is graded according to its quality; better quality being more\u00a0valuable.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Grade 1 (aka full-grain) leather<\/strong> is extremely smooth, supple, clear of defects and consistent in color.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Grade 2 leather<\/strong> has slight imperfections and a less-consistent color.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Grade 3 leather<\/strong> is blotchy, has inconsistent color and feels stiff due to the coatings applied to hide its numerous imperfections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Finishing<\/strong><br \/>\nIn the finishing process, leather can be treated with one of the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Aniline dye<\/strong> is sheer and penetrates the leather. allowing its natural beauty and character show through.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Surface dye<\/strong> is a topical coating which covers the leather\u2019s natural appearance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Trust your senses to determine quality leather<\/h3>\n<p>You can tell a lot about a leather piece\u2019s quality by experiencing it in person.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Look &#8211;<\/strong> Even stitching, consistent color and few blemishes indicate quality. Pay specific attention to the edges of a leather piece. If the leather in the middle appears blue the piece (for cost-cutting reasons) has been only partially tanned and will be susceptible to cracking and fading when exposed to sunlight.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Smell &#8211;<\/strong> You pick up on the unmistakable scent of leather.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Feel &#8211;<\/strong> Quality leather will be smooth to the touch, supple and flexible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Leather terminology<\/h3>\n<p>Because leather is a luxury material, it is highly sought-after. Manufacturers recognize that using the word, \u201cleather,\u201d imbues a product with a certain cache and quality, whether it actually deserves it or not. Understanding leather terminology will help you know precisely what you\u2019re buying.<\/p>\n<p>Split leather is \u00a0made by splitting a piece of leather into two layers. This is a means to produce a more economical (and lower quality) leather.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Top grain &#8211;<\/strong> This first layer is sanded down and chemically processed, resulting in a leather that\u2019s less breathable with a \u201cplastic\u201d feel.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Split grain &#8211;<\/strong> This remaining layer is often made into suede or embossed to look like a full grain leather, while being thinner and less durable than the real thing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s important to recognize that the term \u201cgenuine leather\u201d provides no guarantee as to the quality of the leather used &#8211; only that it is <em>some<\/em> kind of leather.<\/p>\n<p>Also note that some manufacturers advertise\u00a0their product is made \u201cwith\u201d full-grain leather. Again, this only really says that <em>some<\/em> of the leather is full-grain.<\/p>\n<h3>Make the most of your leather investment<\/h3>\n<p>You needn\u2019t pay full retail price for leather. Consider semi-annual sales and buying \u201clast season\u2019s\u201d goods at discount retailers. After Christmas is an ideal time to purchase leather goods. As for resale value, high quality leather holds its value, so you can recoup a good part of your leather investments on Etsy and eBay should you tire of them while they\u2019re still gently used.<\/p>\n<p>As long as you know that what you\u2019re buying is worth the money, leather pays off in quality, durability and satisfaction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leather is considered a luxury material\u00a0and, as such, can be a costly investment. Because there are so many types and grades of leather,\u00a0whether you&#8217;re shopping for\u00a0clothing, footwear, accessories, luggage, handbags or furniture, it\u2019s important to know what you\u2019re looking at to ensure you get the quality you want at a fair price. Leather facts Leather [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[44,510],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6288"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6293,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288\/revisions\/6293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}