Leather in Fashion
Leather brings out the nastiness in you, in a good way though. Leather in the fashion world have come full circle from the good old days of leather jackets to a more elaborate selection of fashion leather items ranging from bags, shoes, pants, belts with a beautiful display of accessories and jewelry such as cuffs, bracelets, necklaces, hair band, scarves, and gloves to mention but a few.
The leather look is mostly associated with bikers and rock star and portrays a sense of toughness and a rude “chic” style for ladies. A leather accessory is a must-have accessory. They add the perfect finish touch to all and any kind of outfit making you look ‘chic’ or ‘manly’, either way, you always rock in leather.
Why Leather Necklace is Awesome
- It’s simple: the simplicity of leather necklaces make them endearing to all groups and ages. Their simple nature makes them the perfect finish to any attire; whether formal or informal wear, leather fits like a glove giving you and your outfit that ‘badass’ finish and look
- Colors: leather can be dyed and as such leather necklaces come in different colors to brighten up your day and skin tone. Leather symbolizes strength, power, and pride making them a cool piece to add to your accessory collection to give you that cool, confident, and bold look always.
- Easily transformed: leather necklaces can be worn on its own or paired with gold, silver, and diamond to create new jewelry pieces that tones down or amplifies a look for any event.
- Gift choice: the durability, versatility, and quality of leather makes it the perfect gift item for any occasion.it can be a birthday or a wedding gift, leather fit and enhances the fun of the event and you can be rest assured that it will never go out of fashion and retains it looks with simple maintenance process.
- Lastly, like everything leather, you always look awesome with a leather necklace.
Well, since we know how cool leather is, let’s see how to choose the right kind of leather.
How to identify genuine leather
Identifying genuine leather can be very confusing but manufacturers are creating ways to give customers the heads up.
Check the label: most manufacturers will attach full grain leather or top-grain leather on their product tag. So, when the label says manmade or animal leather, chances are that it is not authentic.
Imperfections: leather feels rough and bumpy when touched because the animal skin is never without imperfections.
Smell: leather has a leathery smell, not like plastic. So, let your nose do the job when you go leather shopping.
Resistance: genuine leather changes color when stretched squeezed or pressed down on one spot with your finger. Basically, genuine leather will wrinkle under pressure while faux leather will not.
Absorbency: since it is animal skin, it readily absorbs moisture. So, when next you go buy a leather item, add some drops of water to check it absorbency rate.
The fire test: this is one that will definitely guarantee you of genuine leather but be careful not to damage your new necklace. Set fire to a small portion of the necklace, preferably the underside, genuine leather will char and smell like animal hair burning while faux leather smell as burning rubber.
Cost: genuine leather is expensive because of the process it passes through to give it that final look. So if it’s cheap, just step aside because it’s faux.
How leather is made
The process of getting leather from the hides of animals is called tanning which is one of the oldest industries in the world, since the beginning of human civilization. The Egyptians, Greeks and other parts of the world have different ways of tanning leather. The Roman Empire, the Vikings and the Spartans all tanned leather to make footwear, belts, arrow pouches, armors, shields, bottles, water sacks, buckets, and even weapons.
However, the invention of technology has reinvented the leather tanning industries making leather easier to tan giving it more flexibility, better consistency, softer texture, and making it more durable. This has made the leather industry to implore environment-friendly method by using less harsh chemicals to protect the health of both the tanner and the environment. Leather comes from cow hides; matured cows produce tougher leather while softer leather is gotten from the skin of newborn calves. Whatever the source, leather is revolutionizing the fashion industry
The texture of the hide is dependent on the kind of animal, where the animal is bred, the climate where the animal was bred, the part of the animal that the hide was gotten from, and the hair on the animal skin. These characteristics yield different quality leather.
In the leather industry, they are four kinds of leather. They are full grain leather, corrected grain leather, bonded leather, and top grain leather. The finishing on the hides is a determinant of the quality of the leather.
The process of tanning raw hides and finishing is a skill that is mastered to produce the best kind of leather. Italian leather is the best and sought after leather in the world because of their finish.
Full Grain Leather: come from the top layer of the hide. The name full grain is as a result of the hide including all the grains. Full grain leather retains its toughness and strength because the hides have no surface modification or piercing. It is the best leather the market and used for Saddleback but quite expensive too.
Top Grain Leather: is the second best in the industry, this is obtained from the top layer of the skin where the skin split. The surface is usually polished to get rid of imperfection giving it pigmentations or staining that gives it an attractive look. This leather is more flexible than full-grain leather, although, strong and durable, it tends to stretch out over time. It is used in making handbags and leather jackets.
Corrected or split grain leather: this is pure leather but lacks the smoothness and shiny appearance of the best leather. It is very stylish and comes in a variation of colors. It is, however, not an easy leather to maintain and not used in making most things.
Bonded leather: this is the cheapest form of leather and contains about 17% of real leather. It is gotten from the scraps of other leather that are bonded together using an adhesive they are used for furniture because they retain their texture and don’t get smooth with long usage.
With all the talk about leather and animal protection, leather is still grossing big in developing countries with more items made daily into leather. Nevertheless, leather in fashion is here to stay. So, watch out for more fashion staples made from leather.