Types of Leather

Leather materials are very common and are highly valuable due to its high durability, aesthetic looks, and the tedious preparation process behind it. The preparation process of leather has become much more of an art, as it takes a lot of skills to do so.

Leather has to go through some processing before it is ready to be used. This is because leather material is thick and strong. These different processes will result in different types of leather.

At Yonder Bags, we are crazy passionate about leathers. Let us enlighten you on the different types of leather and how different they are.

Let’s start by talking about the king of leather, the full-grain leather. Full grain leather is the best quality leather you can find in the market. This is why it is also called the ‘A-grade’ leather. This type of leather is obtained from the top layer of the hide. Full grain leather is smooth and has that grainy appearance. It is admired by many because of its natural rugged look.

Full grain leather bags are very desirable due to its durability. Check out our collection of full-grain leather backpacks.

Next will be the second best quality leather, Top Grain Leather. This type of leather is almost the same as full grain in terms of quality. The only difference is that top grain leather is usually rough and so it has to go through sanding and buffing to remove the imperfections and blemishes. A coating is then applied to preserve its beauty and gives it an aesthetic look. This type of leather will generally be preferred by the masses as it is cheaper than full grain but still looks and feels quite A grade.

An unsuspected buyer will sometimes be confused with the word "Top Grain" and would assume it be the "A-Grade" leather. Hence, there are actually a lot of bags out there that are in this category due to the confusion too.

Our hallmark collection, the third type of leather will be Crazy Horse Leather. From the name of the leather, as you can guess, it does not come from Crazy Horses. Crazy Horse has become a type of leather that the market is crazy about in recent years. It is made by applying a type of special wax to the smoothed surface of full grain leather. The wax applied is the secret to the change in shades when scratched or rubbed. How crazy does that sound?

Going for a brunch on the weekends? Our Crazy Horse Leather Tote Bag will be perfect for you!

For everyday carry, our classic Crazy Horse Leather Backpack is our best-seller among college students and young working adults.

Read more on our in-depth article on What is Crazy Horse Leather?

Genuine leather is third leather grade and it is the lowest quality of leather. Genuine leather is made from several layers of leftover materials from Full Grain leather/Top Grain leather, bonded together using glue then painted to make it look uniform. Like split leather, genuine leather is made from leftover materials from higher quality leather such as full grain and top grain leather. Genuine leather performs poorly in terms of durability; it is not great at enduring stress. Hence, a bag made of genuine leather will not last long.

For the unsuspecting leather enthusiast, this term will also confuse them by thinking that “genuine” means is not “faux” and hence is the real deal.

In Yonder Bags, we never sell genuine leather and rest assured we only use Full Grain Leather on our leather bags!

We hope that we have made your decision-making when purchasing a leather bag much easier. To avoid getting in the trap of "fake real-leather", the price of leather gives it all off. By looking at the price of leather, you can roughly tell if it is real leather or fake leather. Fake or faux leather is usually priced way much lower compared to real leather.

As we also sell faux leather, we would have explicitly stated it up front in our description. The only other advantage to get a faux leather is that it is usually lighter and cheaper than the actual leather bags itself.

So which leather bag is your favorite in our Yonder Bags store?