Leather Terminology
Common leather terminology used within the leather industry. Intended to help beginner leather crafters understand the wide range of terminologies used throughout leather’s long and colourful history.
With so many leather options available when beginning to buy leather for your next project , knowing some key leather terms will surely help.
Aniline Dyed
Leather that’s dyed by immersion in a dye bath without been coated with any pigment finish. Because the finish is transparent and shows the natural markings of the leather, only the best quality hides can be used.
Armour Leather
Heavy veg-tan leather used for shoe soles and for protective armour by historical re-enactors.
Belly
The part of the animal that covers the underside and the upper part of the legs .
Buffed
Leather that has its top surface grain removed by an abrasive or bladed cylinder or, less often by hand.
Calf
A young bovine animal not exceeding a certain weight.
Chrome tanned
This process uses soluble chromium salts, primarily chromium sulphate, to tan leather. Most commonly used for garments, footwear and upholstery.
Combination tanned
Leather tanned with two or more tanning agents.
Corrected grain
Leather that has its grain layer partially removed by buffing and then has a new surface embossed on it.
Cowhide
Leather made from the hide of a cow.
Crocking
Transferring of colour or finish from leather caused by abrasion or rubbing.
Crust
Leather that’s tanned but not coloured or otherwise finished.
Distressed leather
Leather that is aniline dyed with one colour over another (usually darker over lighter) so as to create rich highlights and an artificial aged appearance. This finishing process is intended to emphasize the characteristics of the hide such as scars, scratches and wrinkles. Also called “antiqued leather”.
Flesh side
The underside of the animal’s hide. When looking at a piece of veg-tanned tooling leather, this will be the rough side.
Drum dyed
The process of colouring leather by tumbling it in a rotating drum immersed in dye to allow maximum dye penetration.
Flesh Side
The underside of the animal’s hide. When looking at a piece of veg-tanned tooling leather, this will be the rough side.
Full grain
Leather which has not been altered beyond hair removal. It is the most genuine of leathers, retaining all of the hide’s original texture and markings. The hide’s best, strongest and most durable layer.
Finish
The last process or processes in the manufacture of leather.
Good hand
A soft supple leather that feels good to the hand.
Grain
The pattern, characterised by the pores of the animal and visible on the outer surface of a hide or skin after we remove the hair.
Hand antiquated
The process where skilled craftsmen hand rub a contrasting colour to give an attractive, one-of-a-kind appearance to the surface of the leather.
Hand
Term that describes the leather’s softness and feel.
Hide
The cured skin of a mature or fully grown animal of the rather larger kind
Hair cell grain
Kidskin
Soft leather made from the skin of a young goat.
Hair cell grain
Noticeable appearance of where the hair pores where on the leather.
Latigo
Cowhide leather tanned for outdoor use.
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created by tanning animal raw-hides, mostly cattle hide.
Milling
Tumbling process in which tanned hides rotate in drums combining heat and a misting of water to soften the hand or enhance the grain.
Natural grain
Leather whose grain has not been altered in any way, so the natural appearance of the grain is showing..
Nubuck
Leather that’s sanded or buffed on the grain side, or outside, to give a slight nap of short protein fibbers, producing a velvet-like surface.
Oil tanned
Leather that is tanned using oils to create a very soft, pliable finish.
Patina
A lustrous coating naturally created over time on surfaces of pure aniline and nubuck leather. The natural process occurs when oils come into contact with the surface and change its appearance.
Pigment finish
Leather to whose surface we apply a finish containing fine pigment particles in suspension.
Pebble grain
A cosmetic character resembling small pebbles on the leather's top side.
Printed
Leather bearing a surface pattern produced usually by embossing, but sometimes by other methods e.g. silkscreen printing.
Protected
Leather bearing a surface pattern produced usually by embossing, but sometimes by other methods e.g. silkscreen printing.
Pull-up
Refers to leather that derives colour from dyes, waxes, and/or oils. Pulling this leather during upholstering, the oils/waxes dissipate and become lighter in those areas.
Pure aniline
Hides which receive their only colour from dyes and show natural markings and characteristics.
Rawhide
A hide which has only been treated to preserve it before tanning.
Re-tanned
Leather that’s subjected to additional tannage with similar or other tanning materials.
Semi aniline
Finished Leather which has been aniline dyed or stained, incorporating a small quantity of pigment, as to avoid concealing its natural appearance.
Shrunk (en) grain
Leather specially tanned to shrink the grain layer and having a grain surface of uneven folds and valleys.
Side
Half of a whole hide with offal (head, shoulder, and belly) attached, obtained by dividing it along the line of the backbone.
Suede split
Leather made from the flesh split of hide or skin and finished with a velvet-like nap.
Suede
Velvet-like nap finish produced on leather with abrasive action.
Tanning
The processing of perishable raw hides and skins by the use of tanning materials into the permanent and not putrescible form of leather.
Top finish
A final coating of a finish given to leather to bring about special properties such as gloss, water resistance and so forth.
Top grain
The top layer of a hide after the splitting process in which we remove the hair and epidermis. The grain can be either natural or embossed.
Temper
A characteristic of leathers defined by pliability/softness
Vegetable tanned
Vegetable tanned leather refers to the tannage, or method of tanning hides or skins into leather with natural extracts derived exclusively from vegetable sources.
Water-resistant (repellent leather)
Heavily greased chrome tanned, or combination tanned leather is resistant (repellent) to water. Sometimes it is possible that other water-resisting (repelling) agents are applied.
Wax(ed) (waxy) Leather
Upper Leather finished on the flesh side and dyed; vegetable tanned with a high content of hard grease, though not necessarily wax.
Leather work tips
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