ULTIMATE Guide To Leather! Full Grain Vs Top Grain Vs Genuine Types & Grades

Today, we’re talking about leather.
Leather is a luxury material use in a wide
variety of men’s goods from bags to shoes
to belts to gloves.
In today’s video, I want to talk about leather
types, I want to talk about leather quality,
I want to talk about leather finishes, so
you can go out there and make an informed
buying decision.
Are you ready, guys?
Let’s get into it.


So, first off let’s talk about leather quality.
Leather quality is determined by the overall
durability of it and the lack of blemishes.
Those two things right there are going to
oftentimes determine whether it’s a first
grade, second grade, third grade, or fourth
grade quality leather.
So, let’s talk about first grade quality
leather.

This is going to come from the lower back
of the animal and only makes up 13% of the
hide.
First grade leather has all the qualities
manufacturers want for their higher end pieces
and it only makes up a small portion of the
animal.
So, that’s why it commands such a high price.
Next up, we’ve got second grade leather
and it’s very close to first grade leather,
but actually makes up 30% of the hide and
we’re going to see in and around the buttocks
and the middle back of the animal.
And what’s interesting about this is this
is what we start to see mostly with bags,
we’re going to see a lot with jackets.
The same also with third grade leather, it
starts to go lower into the rib area and this
is, again, 32% of the hide.
So, between second grade and third grade,
we see about 62% of the hide being available.
Now, let’s talk about fourth grade leather.
Fourth grade leather makes up about 25% of
the hide and it’s the part of the animal
in and around the leg area, in and around
the neck and the head.
It’s going to be something that is going
to need a lot of work.

But, where can you use it, guys?
On the outsole of shoes actually.
You can take that leather you can layer it
you can actually treat it, it actually becomes
something almost different than leather in
a sense that when you treat it in a way that
it becomes waterproof, it doesn’t have to
have the malleability, but it can still be
used.

Now, let’s talk about leather types out
there.
You’re going to hear full grain, you’re
going to hear top grain, and you’re going
to hear genuine leather.
Now, to understand this, let’s look at the
layers.
So, when we hear the word full grain, what
they’re talking about here is this is made
up of the grain and the junction of the grain
in the corium.
And depending on where the cut comes from
during the tanning process they actually separate
the layer and they use various parts here,
but usually that top part is going to be some
of the most sought after.
Now, the top grain is actually going to be
right where the junction is at, so basically
the grain has been removed off of the top
grain and it’s over in the junction where
it starts and then goes into the corium.
Now, when we hear things that are known as
genuine leather, of course, they are leather,
but they’re mostly made up of the corium.
Now, guys, I want to stress with the various
types of leather, one isn’t necessarily
inferior or superior to the other.

It depends on the purpose of the leather.
Now, let’s talk about leather finishing.
So, I’m going to really simplify this, but
after the tanning process that are going to
go in there and basically make it so that
the leather it doesn’t rot, it doesn’t
fall apart, it becomes much more durable can
deal with the environment and in some cases
they start to introduce dyes.
Let’s talk about that finishing process.
So, one of the easiest things they do is they
actually go over with a very thin plastic
coating and that right there if they like
the color of the leather underneath that would
all – that’s all they will have to do.
The best analogy I can think of is a cake.
If you were to bake a chocolate cake just
a simple white material coming from flour,
the flour is white, but when you add the chocolate
flavoring the chocolate colors it basically
makes it brown.

In the same way with the leather, we’ve
got that natural let’s say light tan color,
but when they – they actually are in the
tanning process and the finishing process,
you can actually coat it with a color and
then put another layer over it which is the
protective layer.
All right.
Now, let’s talk about leather thicknesses
and they’re going to range from 1 oz which
is about .4 mm to 14 oz which is about 5.56
mm.

And, let me simply start off with a pair of
dress shoes here to explain where we’re
going to see that wide variety in thicknesses
of the leather.
So, the inside lining of these high-end dress
shoes right here used a very thin layer of
leather.
This to me is a great sign of quality dress
shoes.

Why?
Because that extra layer that they took the
time to put in there is going to absorb the
sweat and that right there is going to protect
the outer upper sole of the shoe.
So, this outer sole this upper sole part right
here, this is going to be about 3 to 5 oz.
Understand once you get past 6 oz it becomes
a lot less malleable and something that would
be much harder to break in the shoe.
Now, the 14 oz, where are we going to see
that?
On the outsole of the shoe and this is formed
by multiple layers, it doesn’t have to be
one thick 14 oz cut.
That would actually be pretty rare.
This one looks like to be about 12.
This pair right here, yeah, that looks to
be about 14 and you can definitely see some
of the layers in here.

Now, gloves.
We’re oftentimes – and I haven’t really
talked about all the different animals you’re
going to see out there, but kid, we’re going
to see swine basically pig.
We’re going to see also calf.
What they want to be 3 oz right here and they
want to be going for something that s going
to be very soft not necessarily as durable,
but these aren’t work gloves.
These are nice gloves that I can wear in the
cold winter.
And also, you’ll notice these are navy in
color.

So, getting back to the treatments, they probably
actually treated I would think just the upper
layer of these pair of gloves here.
[0:05:18]
Now, when it comes to belts, 8 oz on this
right here.

I can see that this is double layer of leather,
so they probably went with maybe two 5 oz
right here and then on the inside they’re
going to have a material in here.
Some companies and I’ve seen some companies
actually use metal in here.
Now, I haven’t really talked about any exotics
like ostrich or reptiles or anything like
that.

So, this actually leather, but it’s made
to look like an exotic.
Now, animals like these, this is buffalo right
here and this is going to be actually a very
thick material.
And buffalo is interesting especially people
don’t like to polish the buffalo, they want
to actually show where this came from.
Things like these could command a higher price
because they’re coming from more of an exotic
material.

All right.
Now, let’s talk about jackets.
So, 3 to 4 oz, we’re going to see usually
in suede lighter weight jackets, but in heavier
weight jackets, 5 to 6 oz.
This one right here I can tell it’s been
treated to become softer, but it’s a very
thick leather right here.
For durability and protection, you want to
go for like 6 to 7 oz.
And you can feel that thickness of the leather
when compared to a lighter weight material
like this.
All right, gents.
So, a lot in this video.
I’m going to link in the description of
this video to other videos in which I talk
about how to take care of your leather.
I go into a lot more detail about leather
and you’ve probably seen throughout this
those infographic images.
Guys, I’m linking to that infographic, again,
down in the description.
Keep it take it, please.

I’ve got so many great resources for you
over at Real Men Real Style.
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Guys, at Real Men Real Style I’ve really
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Guys, I appreciate you.
I appreciate everything we built here at Real
Men Real Style and I will see you in the next
video, right?
All right, guys.
Take care.
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