The Complete Leather Guide I Couldn't Find

Here's a quick summary of the most important terms around luxury and artisanal leather. There are numerous competing sources and misinformation online, and some of the exotic terms for leather can change their meaning over time and in different contexts. Even modern tools like Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT are not much help when researching such heritage craft with a lot of nuance.

This guide is the point of view of a leatherworker who is also passionate about the fashion industry (me), trying to make sense of it and show how amazing the heritage leathercraft can be.

Table of Contents

• Leather quality
• Fashion brand leather (Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Prada, etc)
• Famous leather types
• Dyeing process
• Finishing of the surface
• Types of tanning
• Type of the cut
• Animals and leather

Leather grain

This is the most important parameter that determines a lot the quality of leather. It is based on how the leather is cut from the hide. For example, split and suede leather are often by-products of the full-grain leather production.

The top layers of the hide are denser and more durable, except shell cordovan and culatta.

• Full-grain - leather that has the topmost layer of the skin with its full texture and imperfections.
• Top grain - the very top layer of the leather is cut away to hide some of the texture and imperfections.
• Split - a deeper layer of the leather, cut from the corium part of the hide, it's often created when full-grain leather is cut thinner to the desired thickness.
• Genuine and bonded leather - recycled leather scraps bonded together with glue/resin.
• Nubuck - "new buck" the leather is shaved one layer deeper than the top grain, has a soft velvet texture.
• Roughout leather - when the leather of any type is reversed so the corium side is used as the face side.
• Suede - can be the same as roughout, or split leather. It means that the face of this material is fluffy corium.

Quite often in mass production, the leather surface has a corrected grain finishing, which you can read about below.

Next, let's go straight to the point with famous leathers, and you can dive deeper into more technical details below, after them.

Fashion brand leather (Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Prada, etc)

Big fashion brands prefer to use chrome or combination tanned leather with additional protection of the leather surface. Quite often, it's corrected grain leather with a heavy pigment layer on top. Hermes stands out for leather quality among fashion brands, but even they use less vegetable tanned leather than most independent artisans focused on heritage craftsmanship. I have a special article that compares Chrome and Vegetable tanned leather and why it matters so much.

Louis Vuitton leather

Taiga, Epi, Mahina, Suhali, Vernis, etc → all of these leathers are chrome tanned, though sometimes combination tanning is also used. Almost of these leathers have a pigment layer on top and corrected embossed grain. It's done to have a uniform quality and toughness, but it's very different from artisanal leather products from vegetable tanned leather.

Hermes leather

Togo, Epsom, Swift, Clemence, etc → Hermes in general uses more traditional and higher quality leathers. A lot of them use combination tanning and aniline or semi-aniline dyeing. You can read in detail about such fashion leathers on the websites of Hermes enthusiasts. But often these leathers get a lot more praise than they deserve. For example, full vegetable tanned leather or especially shell cordovan takes a lot more time and labor to produce than any combination tanned leather.

Hermes is the most artisanal from all big fashion names and they support traditional crafts and education in France, so a lot of praise is warranted. Hermes also uses full-grain vegetable tanned leathers like Box leather and other leathers in their Heritage range.

Prada leather

Saffiano is the most famous leather of this brand. It has a very heavy coating and embossing. So it has all the toughness of plastic with some features of leather. Such leather is built to look new for as long as possible. But it won't develop any character or patina, so there's no graceful aging here.

An important disclaimer You can easily find more information on the look and feel of different leathers of famous fashion houses. Though websites and conversations of fashion enthusiasts often lack information on the actual process of how the leather is tanned, dyed, and finished. Now with YouTube infotainment channels like Tanner Leatherstein and Rose Anvil, this situation is changing. But any leather type and quality can be exploited for marketing purposes, the same as the cheap crazy horse leather has flooded the market. And I don't want to oversimplify it. Vegetable tanned leather doesn't automatically mean that it's better.

Famous leather types

Most of these leather types are traditional and created using vegetable tanning from full-grain leather. I put a ⭐ next to such leathers. But there can always be exceptions.

Box leather

Its origins are in British showmaking, and it was popularised by Joseph Box (his shoemaking business was later bought by John Lobb). Now it's used to describe aniline dyed semi-rigid calf leather with a glazed surface finishing. Some of the best Hermes Birkin bags are made from this leather. Different producers and suppliers sell box calf leather in all kinds of tanning.

NB: Please do not confuse Box calf leather with leathers like Badalasi Carlo's Minerva Box or Walpier's Buttero Box. In the case of these tanneries "Box" means that it's a milled leather with a natural pebbled surface and a softer structure.

Case shoulder ⭐

Another famous British cow leather. "Case" means that it's good for making boxes or other small leather goods that require firm leather. It's aniline dyed-through vegetable leather with a firm character. A great choice for traditional leathercraft.

Bridle and harness leather ⭐

An even tougher cowhide leather is used for horse bridles and harnesses. It can also be used for tooling and carving or to make beautiful leather belts. The best bridle leather is still made primary in the UK, and it's often finished with a wax coating and it's vegetable tanned.

Culatta and Groppone ⭐

Both are Italian words to describe the butt of an animal. Culatta leather is usually horse butts with traces of shell cordovan on the reverse side. Groppone is the bottom half of the cowhide without belly; it's a tough and resilient leather. Most often, these leathers are vegetable tanned, but there can be exceptions.

Shell cordovan ⭐

The holy grail of leathercraft. It's not grain leather at all, but a dense layer of connective tissue from the rump of a horse under the reticular layer of the skin. It takes a lot more time and labor for tanning; the whole production process can take several months. This leather deserves a separate article and conversation.

Vacchetta ⭐

This leather can be similar to case shoulder, but it's not necessarily dyed through. Italian leathermakers from Tuscany have perfected the production of this leather for generations. Vacchetta means that it's a high quality full-grain vegetable tanned cow leather dyed using only soluble dyes and enriched with animal fats. Also, it's famous for developing a beautiful patina.

Russian leather and Juft

Russian leather is often made with combination tanning and using birch or larch bark in its vegetable component.

Goatskin, Chevre

From all of the non-bovine cattle leathers, this is one of the most useful ones. It can be strong enough to be used as an outside layer for bags, and it also works great as a lining due to its fine grain and soft temper.

Chromexcel

A trademark of Horween tannery, it's a famous type of combination tanned leather. It's also infused with oils for a pull-up effect.

Crazy horse

This leather is usually NOT horse leather. It's just a trendy name for pull-up leather. It can be made with any type of tanning. Nowadays, it's often chrome tanned, heavily oiled leather with a shaved grain, almost like pull-up nubuck leather.

Tooling leather ⭐

This leather is to be tooled and carved! So it's a thick and rigid vegetable tanned leather ready for molding, carving, and tooling.

Nappa

This word doesn't mean that much besides of describing a soft, supple full-grain leather. The softest leathers are usually chrome tanned.

Pueblo ⭐

Famous leather from the Badalassi Carlo tannery in Tuscany, Italy. It's made from a full-grain vegetable tanned cow shoulder. But the surface is treated with a proprietary brushed finishing, so it's as uniform as nubuck without losing the quality of full-grain hide. Over time, it darkens and develops rich patina, plus the color choices for this leather are exceptional.

Buttero ⭐

Another famous Tuscan leather from Conceria Walpier. Full-grain, vegetable tanned cow shoulder that was drum dyed with rich aniline dyes. Its main qualities are a rigid character with the most vibrant color choices. In some ways, it can be compared to the case shoulder.

Important note: In Italy, there's a Consorzio Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata Al Vegetale, an organization that unites and certifies producers of high-quality vegetable tanned leather, and most of them are located in Tuscany around Santa Croce sull'Arno. Their certificate is a respected quality mark, but not every high-quality Italian tannery is a part of this consortium.

Dyeing process

Tanning and dyeing barrel at La Perla Azzura tannery

Aniline dyed

The purest dyeing method. Transparent dyes are used to preserve the natural grain and texture of the hide. Only the best full-grain leathers are used, as imperfections remain visible.

Drum-dyed / Dyed-through

The leather is tumbled in a rotating drum filled with dye, allowing the color to penetrate deeply through the hide. Ideal for products where the leather is skived, folded, or bent.

Tamponato (hand dyeing)

A traditional Italian method where dye is applied by hand with pads. Creates rich, layered effects with visible brush or swirl marks. Often used for artistic, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Semi-aniline

A compromise between durability and natural look. A small amount of pigment is added to protect while still allowing some of the natural grain to show.

Pigment painted

Opaque surface coating that hides flaws and gives an even, uniform color. Often used in fashion or automotive leathers.

Object dyed

The final leather product (like a bag or wallet) is dyed after construction. Creates unique shading and a worn-in look right from the start.

Finishing of the surface

Once leather has been tanned and dyed, it may go through additional surface treatments. These finishes affect how the leather looks, feels, ages, and resists wear.

Sego, animal oil (tallow) that is used for enriching leather after tanning

Crust

Leather straight from the tannery with no finish at all. It's often pale and stiff, ready to be dyed or oiled later. Many vegetable-tanned leathers start as crust leather. Leatherworkers, especially shoemakers, love this leather because they can decide how to dye and process it themselves. Crust cowhide leather is usually a pale beige color, and it darkens from the sun, friction, and oils.

Hot-stuffed and pull-up leather

Leather that's been saturated with oils and waxes during the final stages of tanning. This gives a supple feel, water resistance, and often a rich pull-up effect (e.g. Chromexcel).

Corrected grain

The surface has been sanded down to remove imperfections, then stamped with a uniform texture. Dollaro is one popular example of a pebbled, corrected grain used in bags. Often, the grain correction is applied on top of a heavy coat of pigment paint or lamination, like Saffiano.

Sometimes a leather texture can be changed without embossing a pattern, for example glazed leather and tumbled/milled leather.

Embossed exotic

A texture is pressed into the surface to imitate exotic leathers like crocodile, lizard, or ostrich. The look of an exotic leather without the ethical or cost concerns.

Glazed

A high-gloss polish is achieved by rubbing the leather with glass or agate rollers through temperature, friction, and pressure. This is typical for shell cordovan, box calf, or glazed horse avancorpo. Exotic leathers like crocodile and snake leathers are often glazed to achieve that high gloss look.

Laminated

A thin film or foil is applied to the leather surface for a metallic, glossy, or printed effect. Lamination, embossing, and heavy pigments are often used in the fashion industry to preserve the look of a new object.

Waxed and ghost leather

A light layer of wax is applied for water resistance and to deepen the color. Sometimes wax residue develops on the leather that was generously oiled with waxes, tallow and oils. Over time, the waxed coating may wear off and give way to a shiny finish and patina. Some tanneries have sophisticated waxed leathers like Alaska at La Perla Azzura and Ghost leathers by Walpier, La Perla Azzura, and others.

Patent

A very shiny, mirror-like coating that feels almost plastic. Originally in the 19th century, it was made by applying multiple layers of varnish or lacquer. Nowadays, it's mostly leather with a shiny plastic coating.

Tumbled or milled

Leather is placed in rotating drums after tanning to soften it and give a natural, relaxed grain. Tumbled leather has a broken-in look right from the start. This is often combined with the drum-dyeing process or by applying heat to the drum when tumbling.

Hot drum leather milling also results in a softer leather with a pebbled texture. This pebbled texture is natural and different from a print of a  corrected grain leather.

Shrunken grain

During drying, the grain layer is intentionally shrunk. This enhances the natural pebbled texture. Used in premium goat or calf leathers. This can also help to make the texture of the leather look more uniform.

Gummed flesh side

The reverse (flesh) side of the leather is polished and sealed to be smooth and shiny. This is a common practice. Also, the flesh side can be burnished using tokonole, wax or even water during the creation of bags and small leather goods by artisans.

Types of tanning

There's a lot of controversy in the tanning methods; you can read my article that compares vegetable and chrome tanning. I'm trying to give an honest perspective without marketing tricks or hype.

Bark powder from an Argentinian oak used at La Perla Azzura tannery

Vegetable tanned, bark tanned

Vegetable tanning is one of the oldest methods of leather production, utilizing natural tannins derived from organic materials such as tree bark, roots, leaves, and flowers (e.g., oak, chestnut, mimosa, quebracho, sumac, acacia). It takes several days or weeks and months to tan the hide in giant tanning barrels or pits. The waste is less harmful than in chrome tanning, but it consumes a lot more water.

Leather produced through vegetable tanning is typically firm and possesses significant body. While it may be stiff initially, it gains softness and suppleness with time and use. A distinctive "leather" aroma, often described as sweet, woody, and rich, is characteristic of vegetable-tanned leather. Each piece exhibits unique variations in shade and color, with the original fibers of the animal's hide remaining visible, adding to its character. This method allows for the production of leather with high thicknesses, up to 6 millimeters, which other tanning methods may not achieve.

This is a preferred method for heritage leather goods and traditional leathercraft. The leather can be burnished and processed more easily, and it ages gracefully.

Chrome tanned

Chrome tanning, developed in the 1800s, utilizes chromium salts as its primary tanning agent. It is the most common type of tanning, currently used for about 80% of leathers globally.

Leather produced through chrome tanning is typically soft, supple, and pliable. It retains its shape and resists water, exhibiting high resistance to water and other liquids. This leather is more flexible than vegetable-tanned leather and readily accepts dyes, allowing for a wide range of vibrant colors. However, it is generally less breathable.

Undyed chrome-tanned leather appears pearl grey with a faint bluish tint, and even when dyed, it often retains a grey-blue or white core.

The processing is significantly faster than vegetable tanning, often taking only a day or so. Hides are loaded into drums and immersed in a tanning liquor containing chromium salts. Unlike vegetable-tanned leather, chrome-tanned leather does not develop the same rich patina over time.

From an environmental standpoint, chrome tanning is considered less eco-friendly due to the use of chromium sulfate, a chemical that can harm the environment. However, it is a faster and more cost-effective method compared to vegetable tanning. Chrome tanning offers significant advantages in speed, cost, and versatility (softness, color range) over vegetable tanning, making it the dominant method globally.

Chrome-tanned leather doesn't develop the same patina — though it may soften and break in over time, the color and surface stay more stable.

Combination tanning and Latigo

Combination tanning involves utilizing more than one tanning process to treat hides, thereby producing leather with a blend of properties from each method.

Here are a couple of examples of combination tanning:

• Chrome + Vegetable (Retanned Chrome Leather): This is arguably the most popular form of mixed tanning. It typically involves an initial chrome tanning, followed by a subsequent vegetable tanning. The goal is to combine the strength, heat resistance, and dyeability characteristic of chrome tanning with the embossability and fullness provided by vegetable tanning.
• Vegetable + Chrome (Semi-Chrome): In this method, vegetable tanning is followed by chrome tanning. This combination aims to improve color, softness, and heat resistance. It is often used for apparel leather to achieve a softer, fuller feel and offers better abrasion resistance, making it suitable for sole leather production.

This is an advanced technology for leather tanning. However, to me, this seems more like an improved chrome tanned leather. Pure vegetable tanned leather is still its own separate category and I would not use combination tanning instead of pure vegetable tanning.

Latigo leather is made from cowhide that is first chrome tanned, then vegetable tanned, and infused with oils.

Metal-free, aldehyde tanning

Metal-free or aldehyde tanning is a process that utilizes aldehydes, such as formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, or oxazolidine, in the tanning solution. This method was developed as an alternative to traditional chrome tanning. Leather produced through this process is often referred to as "wet-white" due to its pale cream color.

One of the most particular leathers that I'm using is dirty white culatta that was made with aldehyde aluminum tanning. It has a dyed-through beige color and becomes more yellow as it ages, exposed to UV light. Plus, it feels more "dry" and more dense than vegetable tanned culatta.

This tanning is used for some specific needs and applications and is not very common.

Type of the cut

The place where the leather was cut from the hide affects the quality a lot. Shoulders and leather along the spine of the animal is the most stable and robust. The butt/rump region can be a bit more flexible and thick. Belly is the lowest quality and is used mostly for lining.

Shoulder, avancorpo

The most used part of the hide. Along the spine, you can find a wavy pattern on full-grain vegetable tanned leather. It's a good choice of leather for most applications.

Butt, whole butts, rump, culatta

The rump of a horse or a cow gives a very resistant leather with a thick layer of epidermis. It is also a very popular option especially for horse hides, because here you can find culatta and shell cordovan.

Bends

Stripes of leather cut across the hide from the front section of an animal. This is perfect for small leather goods and belts. This is the correct way to cut belts.

Belly

The softest and stretchiest area, located along the sides of the animal. It tends to have inconsistent thickness and loose fibers. Often used for linings or low-stress parts of a product. It can be a cheaper option for lining or specific applications.

Half-hide, full-hide

Half hide is cut along the spine and this is used when you need to make larger leather items without additional seams. For example, a leather jacket, coat, or a large bag.

Crust leather cowhide double shoulders drying after the tanning and before dyeing

Animals and leather

Most of leather production is the upcycling of the waste from the meat and other industries. In general, animals are not raised and killed for their leather, maybe with the exception of some exotic leathers. Cowhide and horsehide leather are sustainable materials and arguably are much more ecological than vegan leather made from plastic.

From Bison to Calfskin

This is the most abundant type of leather. Calfskin has a finer grain, and bison or buffalo leather has the most pronounced grain. Around 65-70% of cows in the meat industry are used in leather production. And 99% of all leather in the world comes from cattle.

Horse

The supply of horse leather is much more limited, but still significant. Horse hides are very tough and resistant with a particular grain pattern; they are tough and flexible. Shell cordovan can be made only out of hides of equine animals, usually it's just horses.

Here's an article that focuses on horse culatta and shell cordovan leather, and why I love it so much.

Ostrish

Ostrich leather is often faked through corrected/embossed grain. Since the supply of the real ostrich leather is quite limited and it has a particular texture with an uneven pattern. Famous for its follicle-dot texture (from feather quills), ostrich leather is luxurious and very durable. Often used in designer handbags and accessories.

Fish and sea creatures

A lot of strange leathers are in this category.

• Pirarucu is a big fish from the Amazon River. It has large scales and was popularized by Rick Owens.
• Salmon skin is easy to come by and relatively inexpensive, but very thin and easy to damage.
• Stingray leather is talked about a lot in the leatherworking community because of its surface covered in hard calcium circles. It can be very resistant, but also very hard to work with.

Kangaroo

One of the strongest leathers that often comes in a thin full-grain finish. It's been praised when used for garments by avant-garde designers.

Goats, lambs and pigs

All the cattle can be used in leather production, but only 10-15% of hides are upcycled into leather. This type of leather is usually thinner and more delicate usually it's chrome tanned to be used in garments and as shoe linings. Sometimes I can find vegetable tanned goat leather that I'm using in linings and pockets.