The world of men's leather shoes is a diverse world from leather material to unique designs. The material to make shoe must be genuine leather, however, there are many types of genuine leather. Each has different characteristics, structures and properties to make different items such as high-grade shoes, bags, purses, belts, etc. The following article will give a brief information about the world's most popular types of leather.

What is leather?

Traditionally, we will use a layer of astringent polyphenols - called tannins - which are naturally present in the bark and leaves of many plant or mineral species, usually chromium or alum, zirconium salts, titanium, iron, or by combining them for tanning. Tannin is a process that permanently changes the skin's protein structure. Production of raw skins does not require the use of tannins. To produce rawhides, they are soaked in a solution of lime or ash, to remove meat, grease and hair, then shave with a slightly blunt knife, then dry. Dipping or soaking in the two solutions also cleans the fibers of the skin and allows the tanning chemicals to penetrate into the skin, so all the steps of producing raw hides (except for drying) are the start of a complex process in tanning and leather production.

The most popular leather types

Full Grain Leather

Whole grain leather is not sanded and polished. The surface is kept intact before being applied to a coating. In terms of durability and sturdiness, full-grain leather is the number one, because this is the leather beneath the animal's coat. Full-grain leather is also highly resistant to moisture because the layers of tissue are tightly bound together. If you use full-grain leather, for a long time, you will see the surface more beautiful and shine without any treatment process. The reason is that the leather tissue has the ability to develop new coatings.

Top Grain Leather

Top-grain leather is similar to full grain. However, in the process, people grind a layer to make the leather thinner and softer. In addition, the leather surface is also polished to look better. Many types are also coated with anti-discoloration so that the colors do not blur or change over long periods of using. Of course, top-grain leather can not be as durable as full-grain leather, but it is also quicker to crack, but because of its beauty, softness and color, it is often used to make leather shoes, bags, purse ...

Corrected Grain Leather

Corrected-grain leather uses man-made kernel to cover the surface of the leather. The type of skin used to make this type of leather is not qualified to produce pigmented and aniline leather. For this type of leather, imperfections will be corrected or rubbed, and then added to the artificial kernel to create an impression and be covered with dye. Most corrected-grain leather is used to make the dyed leather, the color will help to hide defects and correction lesions. The corrected-grain leather can be divided into two main types of semi-aniline and dyed leather.

Split/Suede leather

Split leather or suede is the lower layer of the skin after removing the top skin. It can be processed into suede or split leather. Split leather is often harder and less durable than top-grain leather. Due to the fact that the inner leather layer and the outer artificial leather layer have different expansive levels, in the case of hot and humid conditions like in Vietnam, the leather may be peeling after a period of using. The durability of split leather depends largely on the quality of the artificial coating on the surface of the skin, which is often difficult to assess with the naked eye. However, the advantage of split leather is that it can create a certain hardness of leather, that is suitable for the processing of shoes with hard form - what the full grain leather can not because the more the full grain leather is used, the softer it will be. If the leather is thick enough to have the necessary hardness, the shoe is too heavy and not convenient to use.

At present, leather factories of famous western shoes brands such as Clarks, Cole Haan, Banuli, Caterpillar,... use these types of leather to make their high-grade leather shoes. Your job is just to find reputable shoe supplier to make your feet! You can visit the Banuli shoe factory at 64/3L Dong Tam Street, My Hoa 3, Tan Xuan, Hoc Mon to understand more about the leather that makes the great pairs of shoes.