Several Categories Of Leather

Leather differentiation is the basic knowledge that the leather care industry and consumers need to master. Modern leather processing technology is becoming more and more advanced, and there are more and more leather varieties. It is far from enough to identify the authenticity and variety only from the thickness and density of the pores on the leather surface. Mastering the knowledge of leather differentiation and understanding the performance characteristics and expansion strength of leather will be of great help to the design and production of leather goods, the renovation, cleaning and damage repair of leather care industry, and the purchase and use of leather goods by consumers of leather goods. 　

Looking at the world leather industry, leather includes genuine leather 、 Regenerated skin and Artificial leather 。　

Genuine leather is the raw skin peeled from cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, deer or some other animals. After being tanned and processed by a leather factory, it is made into leather materials with various characteristics, strength, feel, color and pattern. It is a necessary material for modern leather products. Among them, cowhide, sheepskin and pigskin are the three main types of raw materials used in leather making. The dermis is divided into two types: the first layer and the second layer. 　

(1) The first layer of leather is cattle, sheep and pig skin with grain, and the leather surface has natural scars and blood veins, occasionally there are knife wounds in the processing process and belly parts with extremely low utilization rate. The imported first layer of leather also has the number of cattle. Full grain leather can be distinguished from animal leather by pore size and density. There are many kinds of cow hides, such as milk cow hide, meat cow hide, grazing cow hide, cow hide, bull hide, un castrated bull hide and castrated bull hide. There are also cattle hide, buffalo hide, yak hide and yak hide in China. Among them, the pores of buffalo skin are thicker and thinner; The pores of cattle hide are thinner and denser than those of buffalo hide. The pores of sheepskin are thinner, denser and a little slanted, mainly including sheepskin and goat skin. Pigskin is very easy to distinguish because the rule of long hair is the distribution of 3~5 pigskins in a pinch. Generally, it is mainly used for artificially raised pigskins, as well as wild boar skins, which are famous for South American wild boars. This kind of wild boar skin has obvious pig skin pores and grain characteristics. Due to its special collagen fiber structure, it can be processed into very soft garment leather or glove leather, with high value. In addition, ostrich skin, crocodile skin, short nosed crocodile skin, lizard skin, snake skin, bullfrog skin, seawater fish skin (shark skin, cod skin, shark skin, eel skin, pearl fish skin, etc.), freshwater fish skin (grass carp skin, carp skin, etc.), fox skin with fur (silver fox skin, blue fox skin, etc.), wolf skin, dog skin, rabbit skin, etc. are easy to identify, It cannot be made into two layers of leather. 　

The head skin is directly processed from the original skin of various animals, or the thick skin of cattle, pigs, horses and other animals is cut into two layers after depilation, and the upper part with tight fibrous tissue is processed into various head skin.

The top leather includes grain leather, corrected leather, embossed leather, special effect leather and embossed leather. The split leather is divided into pig split leather and cow split leather.

A Grain leather characteristics:

Among many leather varieties, full grain leather ranks first, because it is processed from superior raw materials with less damage. The leather surface remains intact and natural, with thin coating, which can show the natural pattern beauty of animal skin. It is not only wear-resistant, but also has good permeability. Tianhu series leather goods use this kind of leather as raw material to produce high-quality leather goods.

B Characteristics of corrected leather:

It is made by using a buffing machine to polish the surface and press the corresponding patterns. In fact, it is a "cosmetic treatment" for the disabled or rough natural leather surface. This kind of leather has almost lost its original surface state

C Full grain leather properties:

It can be divided into soft upper leather, wrinkle leather, front leather, etc. It is characterized by complete grain retention, clear, small, close pores, irregular arrangement, plump and fine surface, elasticity and good air permeability. It is a high-grade leather. The leather products made of this cowhide are comfortable, durable and beautiful.

D Semi grain leather characteristics:

During the manufacturing process, it is processed and polished into only half of the grain, so it is called semi grain cowhide. Part of the style of natural leather is maintained. The pores are flat and oval, arranged irregularly, and the handle is hard. Generally, raw leather with poor grade is selected. Therefore, it belongs to middle grade leather. Due to the particularity of the process, its surface is free of damage and scar, and its utilization rate is high. Its finished products are not easy to deform, so it is generally used for large briefcase products with large area.

E Features of trimmed cow leather:

Also known as "smooth cowhide", the market is also known as fog and bright cowhide. The characteristic is that the surface is flat and smooth without pores and wrinkles. During production, the surface grain is slightly polished, and a layer of colored resin is sprayed on the leather to cover the leather surface texture, and then water-based light permeable resin is sprayed, so it is a high-grade leather. Especially bright cowhide, with its bright, noble and gorgeous style, is a popular leather for fashion leather.

F Special effect cowhide characteristics:

Its manufacturing process requires the same finishing cowhide, only adding beads, metal aluminum or metal copper in the non-ferrous resin for comprehensive spraying on the leather, and then rolling a layer of water-based light transparent resin. The finished product has a variety of luster, bright colors, grace and splendor. It is a popular leather at present and belongs to the middle grade leather. Features of embossed cowhide: use patterned plates (aluminum, copper) to heat and press various patterns on the leather surface to form a style of leather. At present, there is a popular "litchi cowhide" in the market, which is to use a flower board with litchi patterns, and its name is also called "litchi cowhide".

(2) The second layer is the loose second layer of fiber tissue, which is sprayed with chemical materials or covered with PVC and PU films. Therefore, an effective way to distinguish the first layer skin from the second layer skin is to observe the fiber density of the longitudinal section of the skin. The head coat is composed of a dense and thin fiber layer and a slightly loose transition layer closely connected with it. It has good strength, elasticity and technological plasticity. The second layer of leather has only loose fibrous tissue layer, which can be used to make leather products only after spraying chemical materials or polishing. It maintains certain natural elasticity and process plasticity, but has poor strength. Its thickness requirements are the same as the first layer of leather. 　

There are also various kinds of leather that are popular today. The leather surface processing technology is somewhat different, but the differentiation method is the same. 　

Next, we will introduce all kinds of leather processed in detail:

1. Water dyed leather: refers to various soft leather made by bleaching and dyeing various colors with the head skins of cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, deer, etc. 　

2. Open bead leather: also known as film leather, it is made by throwing it in half along the spine, trimming the loose belly and the first layer of the limbs or the second layer of open edge cow leather, and sticking a variety of clean, metal, pearl, illusion and two-color or multi-color PVC films on its surface.  　

3. Patent leather: leather made by pressing or matting after spraying various chemical materials with two layers of leather blanks. 　

4. Trimmed leather: It is a poor first layer of leather. The surface is polished to remove the scars and blood veins on the surface. After being sprayed with various popular color leather pastes, it is pressed into grain or smooth leather. 　

5. Embossed leather: It is generally made of trimmed leather or beaded leather with open edges to suppress various patterns or patterns. For example, imitation crocodile pattern, lizard pattern, ostrich pattern, python pattern, water ripple pattern, beautiful tree bark pattern, litchi pattern, imitation deer pattern, etc., as well as various stripes, plaids, three-dimensional patterns or creative patterns reflecting various brand images. 　

6. Printed or branded leather: The materials are the same as embossed leather, but the processing technology is different. It is printed or burned into the first or second layer of leather with various patterns or patterns. 　

7. Frosted leather: the leather surface is polished, and the grain scars or rough fibers are abraded to expose the neat and moist leather fiber tissue, and then dyed into various popular colors

8. Reverse suede leather: also known as black leather, it is the first layer of leather made by polishing the surface of the leather body into velvet, and then dyeing it into various popular colors. 　

9. Laser leather: also called laser leather, the latest leather variety that uses laser technology to etch various patterns on the leather surface. 　

2、 Regenerated leather: It is made by crushing the waste of various animal skins and dermis and blending chemical raw materials. Its surface processing technology is the same as that of trimmed leather and embossed leather of real leather. Its characteristics are that the edges of the leather sheet are neat, the utilization rate is high, and the price is cheap; However, the leather body is generally thick and has poor strength, so it is only suitable for making affordable briefcases, trolley bags, ball club sleeves and other stereotyped products and affordable belts. The longitudinal fiber structure is uniform and consistent, which can identify the solidification effect of fluid mixed fibers. 　

3、 Artificial leather: also called imitation leather or rubber, it is the general name of artificial materials such as PVC and PU. It is made of foamed or coated PVC and PU with different formulas on the basis of textile cloth or non-woven cloth. It can be processed according to the requirements of different strength, abrasion resistance, cold resistance and color, gloss, pattern, etc. It has the characteristics of various designs and colors, good waterproof performance, neat edges, high utilization rate, and lower price than genuine leather, However, the handle and elasticity of most artificial leather cannot reach the effect of genuine leather; Its longitudinal section can see fine bubble holes, cloth base or surface film and dry man-made fibers. It is a kind of material that has been very popular since the early days, and is widely used to make various leather products, or some leather materials. Its increasingly advanced manufacturing technology is widely used in the processing and production of the second layer leather. Nowadays, the artificial leather with the characteristics similar to the real leather has been put on the market. Its surface technology and the fiber structure of the base material have almost reached the effect of real leather, and its price is about the same as that of the domestic top layer leather.