It can be tricky to tell if a piece of furniture is made of leather vinyl or a combination of the two sometimes called bonded leather.
Telling leather from vinyl.
If the label says man made material it s synthetic most likely flexible polyvinyl chloride pvc.
Be on the look out for terms such as pleather or faux leather in contrast genuine leather will be marked as such.
This matters cause a leather conditioner will not help the vinyl sides.
Furthermore unlike real leather which can get softer and even more comfortable over time vinyl tends to slowly turn to feel more like plastic and artificial as the time goes as well as being more prone to cracks.
Most people are more concerned about differentiating real leather from faux or fake leather.
But serious connoisseurs know that there are actually multiple grades of real leather of which genuine leather is actually the second lowest grade.
First and foremost check the labels.
If you can feel noticeable texture and grain it s probably genuine leather.
Most cars with leather seats are actually a mix of leather and vinyl.
Understand that genuine leather is only one kind of real legitimate leather on the market.
If it doesn t say anything at all about the material again it s probably pvc or some other synthetic polymer because real leather would be proudly noted.
To learn more about different types of real leather click here how to spot fake leather.
If it s real leather it will proudly say so.
It can be difficult to differentiate between real leather upholstery and manmade faux leather.
How to differentiate the types of real leather from synthetics like vinyl and bonded leather.
It seems obvious but read the tag or label.
How to test for real leather on furniture.
The parts of the seat you touch when you sit in the seat is leather while the sides and back of the seats are often vinyl.
Here are 4 simple ways to tell the difference between real leather and bonded leather.
Next check out the grain of the material.
However the more trained eyes can still differ vinyl from real leather as vinyl may not be as shiny or feel as natural.
Leather feels softer warmer more natural.
Vinyl on the other hand feels colder stiffer and artificial.
This may be easy for some to determine the difference but others may have a very difficult time in making the decision in this manner.
The varying degree of actual leather in the mix versus chemicals affects the smell texture and durability of the product.
Run your hand across a piece of furniture to help you determine whether it s upholstered in vinyl or leather.
