Leather has always been associated with luxury, durability, and timeless style, making it a top choice for motorcycle leather jacket mens, vests, chaps, boots, and motorcycle riding gear. Unlike most fabrics, real leather carries a unique texture, aroma, and natural grain that reflect authenticity and personal style. As fashion trends evolve, however, the market is flooded with alternatives like faux leather, synthetic leather, artificial leather, and polyurethane (PU leather), which are often designed to mimic the look and feel of genuine leather.
Identifying the difference between real leather and fake leather is not always simple, especially when modern manufacturing uses advanced treatments to create high-quality imitations. Price tags and labels may give you some clues, but understanding the key traits of full-grain leather, top-grain leather, and genuine leather compared to faux options can help you make an informed choice.
In this guide, we will explore the most reliable methods to test and recognize authentic leather, explain the different types of leather used in products, and share practical tips so you can confidently distinguish real leather jackets, vests, and motorcycle gear from fake alternatives.
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How is Leather Obtained and Processed?
Leather is obtained from different sources and has different patterns and textures, which are refined in the factory to improve the overall finish of the design. Using high-tech machines and technology, many factories are making look-alike fabrics like leather synthetic leather, artificial leather, faux leather, and Polyurethane (PU). These are similar to genuine leather, but some differences are not easy to catch and identify.
Now the major question related to the authentication is HOW to identify fake vs. real leather. Well, the price tag can also give you the answer, and if the product has the authentic “Genuine Leather” label, you should try it.
When anyone first gets their hands on leather, it is natural to think of the symbolic word “Genuine Leather,” which means the product has the best and premium quality leather. But this is NOT the best grade leather in the industry, but it is an OK leather product. In the leather market, the best grade is known as Full Grain leather, and then comes Top Grain leather, and finally genuine leather (famous in the market).
Besides, if you don't have any experience or are not good at identifying leather, then you should try some of the authentic tips before looking for any expert idea.
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Types of Leather
Leather is never about the one kind. It has many different types, and if you are interested in buying any leather products, you need to know about them. Following are some of the most common types of leather.
Genuine Leather
Many types of Genuine leather are made from the skins of different animals, including cows, buffalo, goats, and sheep. The types of genuine leather might be different and categorized as aniline, semi-aniline, and pigmented. When purchasing genuine leather, consider the leather's appearance and textures and how long it will be used.
Aniline Leather
Aniline leather is natural-looking and is also one of the best top-grain leather, with no protective treatment. This type of leather showcases the skin's natural markings and can absorb stains. It is also susceptible to scratches and will not fade if kept under the sun for longer.
Semi-Aniline Leather
Semi-aniline leather is also the type of aniline leather but has a clear finish that protects this leather from stains. Moreover, the leather will retain its natural shine and appearance. The color and the shining of this leather will be consistent over time.
Pigmented Leather
Pigmented leather is also a top-grain leather that is covered with a layer to give a shiny look and make the leather look slightly unnatural. The pigmented leather quality is that it provides you the durability but also hides the natural blemishes.
It is easy to maintain and has maximum resistance to fading and stains. This type of leather is commonly used in auto upholstery.
Faux Leather
This type of leather is man-made and gives a feel of genuine leather at an unexceptionally low cost. It’s made from fabric with wax, dye, and texture treatment.
The best part about faux leather is that it can be dyed in any color. Many qualities are available, and some are even better than their original designs.
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Advantages and Disadvantages
There are yet many factors to identify the qualities of real and faux leather, as both have their advantages and disadvantages:
Real Leather Advantages
The most significant advantage of real leather is the persona of touch, and the smell will relate to you how to identify real leather - YES- this is Real. The aura and the prestige look of real leather make its surface and texture unique with natural characteristics.
Genuine leather becomes natural after some time, is also comfortable, and prevents stains. Real leather is very easy to maintain and only requires a soft cloth wipe to make it shine again.
Real Leather Disadvantages
Real leather is much more expensive and needs a little care to avoid the feeling. The color will fade a little if the leather is kept constantly in the sunlight.
Real leather is very absorbent, so any drop of liquid can result in a stain if not wiped promptly.
Faux Leather Advantages
Indeed, faux leather has a similar feel to real leather and is affordable in many forms. Many people who are not in the habit of hurting animals have the idea of how to identify Faux leather. These leather formational designs are made by machines, making them unique in style and consistency of color. This leather can be dyed as per your choice of color.
Faux Leather Disadvantages
The biggest disadvantage of faux leather is that it splits into small pieces and cracks, which is sometimes uncomfortable. Faux's life span is short and does not warm the essence of real leather. The duster formation is also artificial, and the smell is like rubber.
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How to identify real leather from fake leather / faux leather
As genuine leather products are in great demand, people have admired the class and premium quality offered by genuine leather, which is second to none.
Below, we have compiled these tips to help you identify mens faux leather jackets sellers. Just follow these tips and purchase from a Real leather jacket seller, and you will certainly be able to identify real leather from faux leather.
Speaking Price Tag
When you are looking for a real leather jacket, the price will justify the authentication, and the smell and the persona will justify the originality. Like anything, real leather is not cheap, so keep that in mind when looking for something genuine.
Genuine leather products are comparatively 2x more expensive than natural products. You can take a survey and check out with 1-2 shops to figure out the price idea. And, any cheap price tag is just synthetic leather no matter how much the shop or company is instating about the Genuine Leather thing.
Liquid Test
A liquid test is one of the simple and quick tests to check the originality. In this test, we will drop water on the surface of the jacket – just a single drop and then wait.
The leather is genuine if the water is absorbed and a dark patch appears. And if the water drop sits on the surface, the leather is fake, and you are about to get scammed.
Scent Matters
The leather smell is unique and more likely to be like wood chips. The natural odor is what you smell and revolve around very easily. Faux leather would smell like plastic as it combines chemicals and other materials. This test is very quick.
So, next time you go to the shop, simply smell mother earth. If you got the smell- it means you found ONE.
Twist – Give it a Try
When shopping for genuine leather, bend the material and observe the change. The colors and wrinkles appear if the leather jacket changes - you have the original piece. But if no color changes and wrinkles, it’s altered by chemicals.
Weight it
The more it weights - the more genuine it is. As genuine leather is made from animal skin, the weight should be according to it. Next time, while shopping for genuine stuff, try weighing a few to get an idea.
Synthetic leather jackets are machine-made, and with chemicals, the weight is very less compared to the real leather jacket. So, keep the weight aspect always in your mind.
Read more: How To Differentiate Between Leather Jackets & Vegan Jackets
Conclusion
Luxury doesn't come with low or fake quality. If you want to wear quality leather products, keep all the above points in mind to spot the fake leather right away. Besides, Best Leather NY is the place to shop whether you want to purchase faux leather or real leather products.
Our state-of-the-art creativity, style, and unique look bring new joy to the rider. Over the past 30 years, BLNY has artistically comprehended the demand and manufactured long-lasting motorcycle industry products.
