How to distinguish the quality of leather in a genuine leather sofa

When it comes to genuine leather sofas, the market is a mixed bag, with options like full genuine leather sofas and imitation leather sofas. So how do you distinguish the leather quality of a genuine leather sofa? This is crucial. If we can identify whether a sofa is made of genuine leather, then we can buy a truly authentic leather sofa. At this point, you're probably wondering how to judge the quality of the leather. It's very simple, just four steps: look, touch, smell, and burn.

First, examine the texture. Top-grain cowhide has a natural, irregular surface texture, and the reverse side also contains animal fibers. If the texture is regular and consistent, it's likely split leather or imitation leather, and the reverse side won't have animal fibers. Also, because top-grain leather contains genuine leather tissue, dye can penetrate, resulting in minimal or no color difference between the two sides. Conversely, split leather, lacking pores, exhibits a significant color difference between the two sides. If a genuine leather sofa manufacturer uses top-grain cowhide, then the raw materials are of very high quality.

Second, touch: Top-grain leather feels soft, delicate, smooth, and skin-friendly; you can feel its elasticity and tensile strength when you pinch it. Split leather or imitation leather, on the other hand, feels drier, has a plastic feel, and lacks elasticity. Additionally, when you press on top-grain leather, you can see changes in the texture; the indentation will show fine, radiating lines. Split leather and imitation leather, when pressed, will only leave an indentation without any change in texture. When buying a genuine leather sofa, you can press on the surface and observe the changes in the texture to distinguish between top-grain and split leather.

Thirdly, smell it: Top-grain leather has a unique smell, some say it smells bad, some say it smells good. Because of my work, I've come into contact with it a lot, and now when I smell top-grain leather, I think it has a light fragrance. I remember when I first started in the industry, I always thought top-grain leather smelled slightly fishy. Second-layer leather or imitation leather smells like a faint plastic smell, which is very different from top-grain leather. It's like one has a natural smell, and the other has a distinct industrial smell. If you have a genuine leather sofa in your living room, try smelling the surface of the sofa to distinguish it by its smell.

Fourthly, burn it: This method is a bit simple and crude. Just cut off a small piece and burn it. The top layer of skin smells the same as burnt hair because they both contain protein. Of course, some people say that this smell is like the aroma of roasted meat, which is also true. Imitation skin and second skin only have that strange, smelly smell of plastic when burned, which is quite unpleasant.

These four methods will basically tell you whether the leather is top-grade top-grain cowhide. If you don't want to go through all that trouble, just ask the sales assistant in the store to show you the product information for the sofa. It will all be explained there. If not, then you can skip this brand and go to another store. Online stores have more complete product information, while physical stores are slightly different, but the necessary product composition will still be clearly stated.