GENUINE OR FAKE LEATHER: HOW TO SPOT

No matter what fashion trend and style is currently flooding the catwalk and the streets,

genuine leather products are always in style.

Pour quoi?

Elementaire! – because of the qualities it has and gives to the product.

It is doubtless -  there is nothing quite as noble and luxurious as  the feel

of real leather.

The huge efforts that are put into making faux leather as close to genuine

as possible only prove the fact that genuine leather is the best material for shoes,

bags, accessories and many other items in our everyday life. Nowadays these

efforts are so fruitful that it’s getting more and more difficult for a regular

consumer to tell the real leather from a good imitation. And what could be more

disappointing that to buy a gorgeous leather bag and to find out later that you’ve

been fooled!

There are a few good ways to spot a fake. While some of them are quite

obvious (genuine leather stamp is rarely counterfeited, whilst a “Man Made

Material” label definitely indicates a faux), others even require a certain courage -

for instance, burning the material – fire will not harm genuine leather, however,

faux will certainly melt. If you (or the retailer) are not ready to run such experiments,

we advise to turn to where the real leather coming from – to nature – your

senses won’t lie.

First of all,  smell the material. Genuine leather has an exceptionally

specific scent that can’t be imitated. If you don’t smell it (or anything at all) be sure

it’s a fake.

If your nose is not in the best shape with the coming autumn, look at the edges

of the material: genuine leather with have a rough-around-the-edges look ,

while fake will look to perfect. You can also have a look on the underside of

the material - faux leather is usually made on fabric basis, thus you will be

able to see detached fibers.

Those not believing their eyes can use their hands:   feel the material. Faux

leather is too smooth, to uniform and feels like plastic. Genuine leather will

most commonly have imperfections in the structure, indicating its authenticity

and natural origin. By the way, if you put genuine leather between your hands, it

will get warm which you will be able to feel for a while. You will hardly get any

warmth from an imitation.

Spend some time comparing definitely genuine leather products against

certain faux  - the gained skill will pay back! Soon you’ll faultlessly spot the real

thing and taste the difference and hear the well-deserved compliments!