What is Full Aniline Leather?

When you are shopping for leather, you might be overwhelmed by all the different types of leather that are possible for your items to be made out of. It also doesn’t help that the names of the types of leather often don’t help you to know if it’s good or not. For example, genuine leather sounds like it is what you want in a leather product. However, for those who know their leather, they would know that this could actually be anywhere in between of a high-quality and a poor-quality leather. In other words, genuine leather does not tell us anything atl all.

[Good Read: How To Tell Leather Quality]

The grades of leather from the best to worst are full grain, top grain, split grain, and bonded leather. Full aniline leather is made from the full or top grain grade leathers and is considered one of the best types of leather you can possibly buy.

But to clarify, aniline leather is not a leather type all in itself. It’s rather a finishing of the highest grade leather, which cannot be applied to any type of leather. It might be somewhat confusing, so continue reading where we explain in greater detail what is full aniline leather.

[Good Read: What is Semi-Aniline Leather]

Full Aniline Leather

Full aniline leather is a very high quality leather end-product. It is made from top most part of the hide that has been dyed using only soluble dyes. In order to make full aniline leather, the animal’s hide is placed in a large drum that contains the aniline dyes.

Aniline dye is a very specific type of dye that does not contain any pigment, or coloring. This means that the dye preserves the natural grain, marking, scars, and wrinkles that are present in the hide without coloring it at all. In addition, during this process, the leather dose not usually obtain an uniform color, because the hide absorbs the dye at different rates. Even though there is no pigment in the dye, the oils that the aniline is mixed with still change the color slightly. This process keeps the natural character of the leather, and makes full aniline leather one of the most sought after types of leather.

For all that to be possible, the leather craftsmen have to use only the purest and cleanest hides of super high quality. Because any hide that was severely damaged during animal’s life or even during hide’s transportation and processing, could not be used for such finishing. Therefore, if you know that a product is made of full aniline leather, you can rest assured that steep price of a product is justifiable.

Advantages and Disadvantages

While full aniline leather is the most sought after of all the types of leather, it still has its advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages of full aniline leather are first and foremost the look of it. It is one of the most high quality materials that products can be made out of and that definitely shows in its appearance. It has the tendency to develop a patina over time when it absorbs oils from your body and it remains soft and supple since it lacks any extra processing or coating materials that make the leather stiff.

One of the main disadvantages of full aniline leather is the price. As it is one of the most sought after types of fabrics, you will pay an often hefty price for that. In addition, It requires a little bit more care than other types of leather because it lacks the protective coating. It can get stains and other marks easily which means it has to be regularly cleaned. In addition, it will fade in direct sunlight. If you have purchased a product like a belt or bag that you will be wearing outside, even if it is just walking from building to building, it will need to be conditioned in order to prevent the leather from drying out.

Overall, full aniline leather is a beautiful, high quality product that does require some care to keep it nice, but if you can afford the price tag, it is worth it to maintain such a beautiful piece.

Final Words

So to sum it up, full aniline leather is a very high quality leather finishing that allows the final product to maintain its purest form with minimum intervention and processing. Therefore, if you can afford it, you should consider buying such leather products at all times. Even considering its disadvantages, they are practically nothing compared to the appearance of the bag in terms of beauty. It will automatically take your appearance to the next level as well, and is it not what an accessory is supposed to do?

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