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How to distinguish artificial leather from genuine leather1
Which quality is better, artificial leather or genuine leather? Artificial leather should also be divided into many grades. There are also many kinds of genuine leather, such as pigskin, cowhide and so on. Which quality is better depends on your needs. With the in-depth development of artificial leather technology, many artificial leathers can be made very close to real leather, even for the purpose of being fake. This article will give you a brief introduction. Multi-layer segmentation (can be divided into 8 layers at most), the outermost layer is the top layer skin, which has the best quality, followed by the second layer skin, whose strength, elasticity and breathability are not as good as the top layer skin. Car seats must use the top layer of leather. A type of composite leather currently on the market is a layer of adhesive film attached to the surface of the two-layer leather. The surface is delicate and looks very similar to the first layer of leather. Some businesses pretend to be the first layer of leather and deceive users. Pay attention to identification. From a professional point of view, the identification of leather should be judged from the odor, specific gravity, light resistance, migration resistance, atomization, thermal yellowing, and friction resistance of automobile leather. Since most car owners do not have professional knowledge in this area, it is more difficult to judge, so you might as well use the following simple methods to identify. 1. The leather of the genuine factory will be marked with the date of manufacture, the name and area of the leather factory, etc. on the back. Of course, the manufacturing date should not be too long, and the leather that is more than 3 years old should pay attention to whether there is mildew. 2. Leather with a good sense of smell should not have a pungent smell after treatment, so too much solvent smell and paint smell is not good. 3. For the heat-resistant method, it is best to ask the manufacturer for a small piece of leather, and use a cigarette butt to touch the sample for about 2-3 seconds to avoid buying artificial leather products; burning with a lighter requires a longer time due to the large contact area. 4. Viewing method Under a 30x magnifying glass, it can be seen that the outside of the leather is like the surface of the earth, with pits and holes, and its air permeability is good. The leather for automobiles needs special treatment such as abrasion resistance and light resistance, and the capillary part will be covered. 5. The cutting method uses a blade to cut across the leather. The color of the leather from the outer layer to the inner layer must be the same (black on the outside and dark gray on the inside, which is a normal phenomenon). Pay attention to whether there is abnormal color under the outer layer, so as to avoid buying second-hand leather that has been dyed or changed color. 6. Wipe the surface of the leather with oil to remove stains, pay attention to whether there is fading and falling off, so as to avoid buying secondary color-changing leather. 7. Origin method All countries in the world produce leather, but only Europe (Northern Europe, Italy, Austria and Germany, etc.) has a long history of leather industry. Naturally, its leather processing level will be much higher than that of low-grade Southeast Asian leather. 8. The leather of the authentic factory has clear source, origin, trademark, leather measurement items, and leather use authorization letter and other basic information. 9. Guarantee method This is the easiest way. When buying leather chairs, don’t forget to ask the store if they have a guarantee service card. First, to avoid buying inferior leather, second to develop regular maintenance habits, and third to provide permanent The after-sales maintenance service can be described as the benefit of killing three birds with one stone. 10. Identify the leather by hand: touch the leather surface with your hands, if it feels smooth, soft, plump and elastic, it is genuine leather; while the general artificial synthetic leather surface is astringent, rigid, and poor in softness. Seeing: the real leather surface has clearer hair and patterns, the yellow leather has well-proportioned pores, the yak leather has thick and sparse pores, and the goat leather has fish-scale pores. Smell: all genuine leather has the smell of leather; and artificial leather has a strong pungent plastic smell. Ignition: tear a little fiber from the back of real leather and artificial leather. After ignition, the artificial leather that emits a pungent odor and forms lumps; the genuine leather that emits hair smells and does not form hard lumps.
1. ISO 5402-1: Specifies the flexometer method for testing leather flex resistance under repeated bending.
2. ISO 17694: Defines test methods for footwear upper and lining flex resistance, simulating real-world bending stress to assess long-term durability.
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