Leather Grades: Do they make a difference?

December 10, 2007

As we saw in our last article, there can be some confusing issues when trying to purchase leather furniture. Here we will tackle another of the issues that are confusing to many consumers; the grading of leathers.

Which grade of leather is the best? Well, that’s the problem. Believe it or not, there is actually no standard grading system for leather. That’s right. There is no A,B,C or 1,2,3 system of grading leather.

I am sure you are wondering, “How can this be? I have been to stores where everything had a number or letter and a price difference associated with it.”

Yes, when you go into a store they will explain to you an A,B,C,D type of grading or a 1,2,3,4, etc.. system. But think about this for a second: if you go to the most expensive store in town who tells you they have an ABC type of grading and the cheapest store also has these same grades, obviously something is wrong. There is no way a sofa with an A grade that sells for $5,000 is the same quality as one that sells for $500, no matter what letter or number they assign to it.

So, what are these grades and what is their purpose? Grades to leather are given by either the manufacturer OR the store that is selling it.

While there are a few exceptions, generally this is why there is a number or letter assigned to the leather:

If the manufacturer has applied a grading system, they are using the numbers/letters to tell you either a) what type of leather was used or b) how the leather was finished or a combination of the two. For example, they might give a lower grade to furniture using leather match which is where the back and sides use a synthetic material that “matches” the real leather used on the seats and arm and give a higher grade to furniture that uses 100% genuine leather everywhere. OR, they will give a higher grade to all of their hand finished leathers and a slightly lower grade to their leathers that have a traditional finish. In that case, both leathers are the same quality but since the hand finished ones take more time, they cost more money to produce them. In other words, in that example there is zero difference in the quality even though there are two different grades assigned. The grades don’t tell you the quality, just that one costs more to produce than the other and therefore have different costs.

Generally, a manufacturer will assign lower grades to leather that have very even consistent finishes and higher grades to leather that have more texture and tonality. This is usually because it costs more to get a leather to have these additional features and textures. It does not necessarily mean that there is a difference in quality of the leather.

If the store has assigned different grades, it is usually an issue of marketing or pricing. For example; they may carry two brands that cost them less and two that cost more. To keep things simple for their salespeople, they will assign a “grade” to the product that costs them less and a “grade” to the product that costs more. This helps the salespeople direct you one way or the other without having to be an expert of leather. Most salespeople are not trained in details and this helps them help you without having to spend months learning the details of how each piece is produced.

Does this tell you the quality? No, it doesn’t. While price can sometimes be an indicator of quality, it many times is not. I am sure you have seen automobiles that were way overpriced for what they offered and others that offered way more for a lot less. Furniture is no different. There are some manufacturers that offer great quality at great prices and others who don’t. That is the nature of all businesses and furniture is no different.

So, now we have a problem. You now know that grading systems really don’t tell you much when it comes to determining price or quality as the entire system is completely made up and helps the manufacturer and retailer far more than it helps you. How do you choose what to purchase?

The simple answer is this: know what quality, not what grade, of leather you need. While we will have more articles in the future that give greater detail, here’s the short version:

Leather match: This is for people or rooms on a budget. By using a synthetic material everywhere your body doesn’t touch, it saves a lot of money in the cost of materials and this savings is passed on to you.

Bonded leather: This is a synthetic material that has leather blended in. It is not genuine leather. It is a very inexpensive material and thus is seen on very inexpensive sets.

Leather Splits: This is where 100% leather is used everywhere. Splits are the second layer of hide and can be used on the sides and backs of the furniture while top grain leather is used everywhere else. The advantage is that all of the leather is dyed the exact same color and there is some savings in using the splits in places where you won’t touch.

Full grain-Top grain leathers: Very simply, the best quality and usually the highest cost. It should be noted that it is not uncommon to use a great full/top grain leather with a split on the sides and back, giving the customer the best of both worlds; great leather and some savings in cost.

Semi Aniline Dyes vs. Full Aniline Dyes

Which is better, a semi aniline or a full aniline dyed leather?

This is one of the most confusing issues in the world of leather furniture and for the most part, no one’s fault. The problem comes from the misperception of the words full and semi. When most of us hear the words full and semi, we think done very well (full) or partially completed (semi).

What makes the issue most confusing is that most furniture stores have sales people who aren’t knowledgeable in how leather is tanned or dyed. And then, kind of like an urban legend, a myth was created and kept going and going and going….

The myth goes as follows: Full aniline dyed leathers are dyed all the way through and semi aniline dyed leathers are only dyed partially through the leather. The myth goes on to say that a full aniline dye is thus better because it will not show scratches to the leather because the dye goes all the way through.

Once you understand what the real difference is, you should appreciate how funny the myth is so…. Here’s the actual difference between the two:

Aniline is a type of dye. The technical definition is:

Aniline: A clear chemical used in tanning a skin to maintain softness.

There are many types of dyes and chemicals but aniline is the most common for natural materials such as animal skin or hides.When only aniline dye is used with a hide, you can see a lot of the variations in the hide which for a lot of styles and consumers is very desirable. It is with a full aniline dye that you get many tones and textures that are very attractive for leather furniture. So, a FULL aniline dye is one where ONLY aniline dyes were used in the hide.

A semi aniline dye means it was partially dyed with aniline and partially dyed with another type of dye. Why was another type used? Well, there are several reasons why a mixture of dyes might be used but the most common is a desire for color uniformity throughout the hide. Sometimes and for some styles of leather furniture, people prefer to have the exact same color through out the entire piece of furniture. Using only an aniline dye will not allow for this and thus other dyes are introduced to the hide to get the desired look and effect.

So, which is better, full aniline or semi aniline dying? You guessed it; neither is better. Another way to look at dyes are to think of them like wood stains. Which is better ; oil wood stains or water based wood stains. Neither is better; it just depends on what look you want in your house. The same is true with full or semi aniline dyes: they are simply ways of staining the hide to get the look you want for your furniture and whichever looks best in your house is what’s best for you.

“Skin Problems Linked to Sofas” an England Problem Not Bari U.S.

First, it should be noted that Bari Leather Furniture is a U.S. company and this article in question refers to a collection of furniture called the Bari collection that is made by Argos, a company in England that sells to people in England and that these two companies have absolutely no association with each other. So, Argos had a problem with a collection of their furniture whereas we are a company called Bari Leather Furniture and thus the possible confusion. Obviuosly no company wants a complaint or complaints filed against them, but we are happy to report that the only association between our company and theirs is the coincidence of the names, their furniture line and our store name.

Secondly, and to the good fortune of all U.S. Bari Leather Furniture customers, Bari Leather Furniture uses ONLY 100% full top grain leather with 100% full aniline dyes. Why is this important? Using only the highest grade leather with full aniline dyes eliminates the potential problem that this company in England had. Within the entire world community of leather furniture, full aniline dyes have never had issues with skin reactions such as Argos had with their furniture. While we of course are sorry to hear of these problems for another company and their customers, we are of course pleased that we have never had these issues and will continue to use the high quality materials that we have always used.

Apparently, in March of 2007 a leather sofa company in England named Argos had a problem with a collection they called the Bari leather sofa. A very small percentage of them had some sort of problem with the leather that caused rashes on some of their customers. The article goes on to say that Argos handled the problem well and that no other problems were anticipated.

Now it’s November and with the mysterious workings of the web, the article is appearing in Google and has caused some of our customers to wonder if they will have problems. The simple answer is no. Argos, while I am sure a wonderful company, is a continent away and the only thing we share with them is that our COMPANY name is Bari Furniture and they have a leather collection they call Bari. Further, whatever problem they had with their leather furniture has been solved.

To be honest, in all of our years in working with leather products, we have never heard of this problem for any company in any country. We are wondering if perhaps the container that sent one of their shipments had something in it from a previous product that caused some allergic reactions and this is why they had problems with just those leather sofas. That would explain why they have had no further problems with this model.

So, what a strange problem. Imagine if Honda Motor Company introduced a new car that they called the “Ford”. And then imagine that the “Ford” had a problem with their exhaust system. And then an article comes out saying there’s a problem with “Ford” exhausts and consumers start wondering if the Ford Motor Company has production problems. That’s what we’ve run into. Thankfully, even for people confused by this name similarity, the problem has been solved for this other company.