Leather Types
A Guide to Leather Types, Textures, and Finishes
Types of leather sorted by what each name means: animal, hide layer, tanning or finish. Full-grain to bonded, suede to pebbled, each linked to a short answer.
Every leather name tells you one of four things: which animal it came from, which layer of the hide it is, how it was tanned, or how its surface was finished. Full-grain and split are layers. Lambskin is an animal. Vegetable-tanned is a tanning method. Pebbled and patent are surfaces.
So one jacket can be "full-grain, vegetable-tanned, pebbled cowhide", with one name from each group. This hub sorts the common names into those groups and links each one to its short answer page.
Four ways leather gets its name
| Group | What the name tells you | Examples | Fact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animal | The species the hide or skin came from. Cattle supply about 65% of leather; sheep, goats and pigs most of the rest | Cowhide, lambskin, calfskin, goatskin | – |
| Hide layer (grade) | Whether you have the outer grain or a lower split | Full-grain, top-grain, split, suede | – |
| Tannage | How the hide was made stable. Chrome is the most common modern method; vegetable tanning is the oldest | Chrome-tanned, vegetable-tanned, oil-tanned | – |
| Surface finish | What was done to the face after tanning: oiling, buffing, coating, polishing, embossing or tumbling | Aniline, pebbled, patent, nubuck | – |
Grades: which layer of the hide
Top-grain leather includes the grain, the outer layer with the densest fibers. Full-grain keeps that whole grain untouched and develops a patina with use. Corrected grain has its flaws buffed or sanded away, then dyed and embossed for a uniform look. Split leather comes from the layer under the grain.
"Genuine leather" is a label, not a grade, and it often means a processed split. Bicast is a split with a coated, embossed face. Bonded leather is shredded scraps glued onto a backing.
- Grain: what top-grain leather means, what grain leather is, is grained leather real leather?, corrected-grain leather
- Splits: split cowhide, split-grain leather, bicast leather
- Labels: what genuine leather means, what genuine leather is, genuine cowhide, bonded leather
- Finish level: finished leather, coated leather
Napped leathers: suede, nubuck and roughout
Suede is made from the underside of the skin and has a fuzzy nap. Nubuck is top-grain leather buffed on the outer side, so it is stronger and has a finer nap than suede.
- Suede: what suede leather is, what suede is, what suede is made of, how suede is made, what suede means, what suede looks like, suede vs smooth leather
- Nubuck: what nubuck leather is, black nubuck, nubuck vs suede, nubuck vs smooth leather
- Other napped leathers: nap leather, roughout leather
Animals and hides
Most leather is cattle hide. Some names point to one animal or one part of it: shell cordovan comes only from horses. Chamois today is almost always a sheepskin split.
- Cattle: cowhide, bovine leather, calf leather, calfskin, hair-on leather
- Sheep and deer: lambskin, is lambskin real leather?, sheep leather, buckskin, chamois leather
- Horse and exotics: shell cordovan, crocodile vs alligator leather
Tannage, dye and oil
Chrome tanning uses chromium salts; vegetable tanning uses plant tannins such as bark. Aniline leather is dyed through but left open-pored, so its natural marks show. Nappa is a soft-leather trade name with no set test.
- Tanning: vegetable-tanned leather, is veg-tan real leather?, latigo leather, tan leather, leather's natural color
- Dye finishes: aniline leather, full aniline, semi-aniline, is aniline real leather?
- Oil and wax: pull-up leather, Chromexcel, greasy leather, wax leather, waxed leather
- Soft leathers: nappa leather, lambskin nappa
Textures and surface finishes
A texture can grow in the leather or be pressed into it, since finishing can include both tumbling and embossing. Pebble leather has a granulated surface. Patent leather has a high-gloss coating. In the US, if leather is embossed to look like another kind, the real kind should be disclosed.
- Pebble grains: pebbled leather, is pebbled leather soft?, refined pebble, polished pebble
- Pressed and coated: embossed leather, saffiano, is saffiano real leather?, epi leather, patent leather, leather gel
- Smooth and worked: smooth leather, box leather, vachetta, burnished leather, distressed leather, perforated leather, double-face leather
- Trade names: Corinthian leather, Italian leather
Leather basics
- What leather is: definition, materials and uses
- What leather is and how it is made
- Common uses of leather
- Is leather a fabric?
- What "leather upper" means
For the making process, see our leather origins and making hub. For care and durability, see leather properties and care. For PU, vinyl and other look-alikes, see real vs faux leather.
Where to see the hide named
The animal is the easiest name to check on a product. Leather Collection men's leather jackets come in cowhide, sheepskin, lambskin or goatskin, and each product page names the leather.
Related guides
- For glue, debossing and repair questions, see leather crafting, treatments and repairs.
FAQ
What are the four main types of leather?
There is no standard list of four. Most "four types" lists are grades: full-grain, top-grain, split (often sold as "genuine leather") and bonded leather.
What is the lowest quality leather?
Of the materials sold with "leather" in the name, bonded leather holds the least hide: it is shredded leather fiber glued onto a backing, with 10% to 90% leather content. US guidance says it should not be sold simply as "leather".
What are the different textures of leather?
Smooth grain, napped (suede and nubuck), pebbled, embossed patterns such as saffiano, and glossy patent. Each has its own page above.
HitKB Editorial Team
HitKB articles are researched from published sources, cited in the text, and reviewed before publication.