Maybe you are not quite sure what kind of leather your upholstered furniture is made of?
You can find help here!
When you choose leather you are bringing a wonderful, durable, fine creation of nature into your living room. Its suppleness, breathability and natural quality are what make it so sought-after. Leather comes from a natural product – it is obtained from animal skins and therefore bears signs of an individual lifestyle. But not all leather is the same. There are different types of leather, depending on how it was made.
A distinction is always drawn between SMOOTH LEATHER and SUEDE (nubuck, velours). With smooth leather, the upper side of the animals hide is used, as seen by the skin pores. With suede, the surface is sanded and roughened. This is done to conceal hide damage and also to make use of split animal hides. A short video illustrates the differences:
SMOOTH LEATHER has always been sought-after as a stylish material for covering upholstered furniture, particularly because of its exclusive character and appeal. Leather is natural, breathable an hard-wearing. Looked after properly and with regular care, it is long-lasting and comes with a supple, natural feel
![]() |
|
Here in this video we show you the various types of smooth leather:
SUEDE, also called nubuck leather or velour, distinguished by a velvety surface. This effect is achieved by sanding the surface or underside of split leather hide. The roughened, velvety surface of this leather type rules out the application of a dye coating after barrel dyeing because the fibres would stick together.
Suede leather is sometimes produced from animals that live in the wild, such as deer, stags etc. As a result of living in the wild, the skin surface is heavily scarred which is why the underside of the skin (flesh side) is mostly used. It is roughened to produce a velour leather. Would you have known?
![]() |
|
Other types of leather:
|
Foil-covered leathers are split leathers that have been coated with a PU film (polyurethane film) and have a shiny, antique-looking surface. When sold, however, these leathers are often not declared as split leather.
|
![]() |
Pull-up leather is the name given to smooth or nubuck leathers that have been provided with an oily, fatty or waxy finish on the surface. In most cases, furniture shows pronounced signs of use/wear even in the showroom, this "patina" is typical and intended. |