Aniline leather – Is it the best leather for your sofa?

Whether aniline leather is really suitable for your new sofa, you can find out here. A lot depends on your wishes and your seating habits! Here you will find important criteria for the leather selection. When buying a leather sofa, you naturally want to know which leather is the best before you buy. Finding a definite answer to this question is difficult, because your personal taste and how you want to use your sofa is important here. You should also not forget to look at your wallet.

1st place in the quality ranking: aniline leather

Exclusivity of the raw material used here is high. In order not to cover or close the natural skin structure, this leather is dyed with transparent dyes.

Only the most flawless hides with naturally very good grain structure are suitable as raw material here. With aniline leather, the natural grain surface remains completely visible after dyeing and any natural color variations are not covered up. Aniline leather is therefore referred to as full-grain leather or full leather.

The exclusivity is also reflected in the usability of raw hides: less than 20% of the raw hides available worldwide are suitable for processing. This rarity of suitable rawhides results in the high price.

Aniline leather is pure genuine leather

Visually and haptically, this leather offers the purest genuine leather experience that a leather sofa can offer because finishing is almost always dispensed with. The natural breathability of the leather comes through the open pores to the best advantage and ensures skin-friendly seating comfort. Body temperature is absorbed very quickly by the leather. That is why it feels very pleasant right away.

The disadvantages of aniline leather

A negative feature is the limited ease of care and resistance to aging. Aniline leather is usually impregnated with wax to keep the pores open. The penetration of moisture or grease is slowed down but cannot be permanently prevented. That this impregnation disappears with time must be renewed by it by the application of special care products. The surface will otherwise become brittle or greasy over time. Aniline leather is more sensitive to direct sunlight than other types of leather. In addition, the choice of colors is limited.

Features of aniline leather: 

• not sanded or smoothed
• natural scars are visible
• completely dyed
• impregnated with wax

Advantages of aniline leather: 

• very high quality
• natural look and feel
• breathable
• tear-resistant and dimensionally stable
• pleasant on bare skin, short heating time

Disadvantages of aniline leather: 

• natural features of the skin can be seen (but gives the aniline leather its unique character and is therefore subjective).
• somewhat sensitive to dirt
• less resistance to aging
• no uniformity of color
• expensive

2nd place in the quality ranking: semi-aniline leather

Semi-aniline leather was specially developed to combine the advantages of aniline leather with those of covered leather. It is, in effect, the middle ground between pure genuine leather experience and ease of care suitable for everyday use. Sofa manufacturers and consumers often choose to make or buy.

For semi-aniline leather, the natural grains are usually lightly sanded and treated with lightly covering pigments and impregnations. However, the natural grain pattern still remains recognizable here. The natural, stronger color variations are somewhat softened. The breathability is better than that of covered leather. Semi-aniline leather reacts less strongly to sunlight than aniline leather. Haptically, it is leatherier than covered leather. You don’t need to dig as deep into your wallet for semi-aniline leather as you do for aniline leather, because the rare rawhide qualities are not needed here.

Features of semi-aniline leather: 

• lightly sanded or smoothed
• possibly embossed
• often completely dyed
• provided with permanent impregnation

Advantages of semi-aniline leather: 

• high quality
• relatively natural look and feel
• relatively breathable
• tear-resistant and dimensionally stable
• relatively insensitive to dirt
• comfortable on bare skin, relatively short heating time
• less expensive

Disadvantages of semi-aniline leather: 

• none essential

3rd place in the quality ranking: Covered leather

In terms of price, covered leather (also called pigmented smooth leather) clearly makes the running. Through elaborate finishing techniques, covered leathers can be made from inexpensive split leather or not-so-perfectly grown raw hides. Many irregularities in the hide are removed by sanding and other processes and are thus no longer visible later.

Natural color irregularities are made invisible by a covering surface pigmentation. This gives the covered leather its typical, absolutely regular surface with absolutely uniform coloring. The use of opaque pigments makes it possible to achieve the wide color variety of muted leathers. From white to lacquer effects and current trend colors to designs, there are many possibilities with covered leather and almost no limits.

Impregnations and dirt-repellent coatings make covered leather highly water-resistant and dirt-resistant. It hardly fades when exposed to sunlight. The smoothing of the leather takes away its natural structure. This can be helped by embossing. Covered leather is less breathable than aniline leather because the surface is almost completely sealed. With the first skin contact, it can therefore seem a bit cold.

Features of muted leather: 

• ground or smoothed
• embossed if necessary
• mostly completely dyed
• provided with permanent impregnation

Advantages of muted leather: 

• coverage of natural features (subjective)
• insensitive to dirt
• resistant to aging
• uniform coloring
• many colors, finishes and designs possible
• inexpensive

Disadvantages of muted leather: 

• not quite as high quality
• lack of naturalness
• hardly breathable
• not so tear-resistant and dimensionally stable
• cool on bare skin at the beginning, somewhat longer warming-up time

Conclusion: Which leather is right for you now?

Aniline leather is the right choice for

• Antique collectors
• all who love the special
• friends of rustic-berth club sofas
• adventurous wildlife freaks

Semi-aniline leather and covered leather are suitable for

• on-the-sofa-eater
• dog and cat lovers
• Couch potatoes
• Worshippers of eternal youth
• Trend-oriented
• Parents and children

Covered leather is perfect for

• Lovers of perfectly smooth surfaces
• Economy foxes

Products for leather care:

Keine Produkte gefunden.

Last updated on 2023-04-11 at 16:41. The stated price may have increased since the last update. The actual price of the product as it stood on the seller’s website at the time of purchase is decisive for the sale. Real-time updating of the above prices is not technically possible. * = Affiliate links. Images from Amazon PA-API.