General Care Tips for all Types of Leather

• Try to maintain at least two feet between furniture and heating sources.
• Avoid placing your furniture in direct sunlight. All materials will fade over time when placed in direct sunlight. Take extra precautions to safeguard Aniline, Nubuk and Bycast leathers from sunlight.
• Like all items in your house, leather will accumulate dust. Vacuum on a weekly basis to keep the dust particles from settling in the grain of the leather.
• All leathers perform better when preventative maintenance is practiced.

Leather is classified into five basic categories: Finished, Aniline-Plus, Aniline, Bycast and Nubuk. The following descriptions will help explain what characteristics are inherent to each category and will detail how to care for your leather.

Finished leathers are practical for active households. These types of leathers are finished to provide resistance to staining and offer overall color consistency within a hide. These leathers are less affected by the harmful rays of the sun. Compared to other leather types, Finished Leathers generally require much lower maintenance.

Characteristics
Hand: Variable
Cleanability: Excellent

Aniline-Plus leathers are quite simply aniline leathers PLUS a slight protective coating. This protective coating can be light pigmentation, staining, or a protective top-coat. These leathers offer the hand of an aniline while adding a slight coat of protection. These leathers are more affected by the harmful rays of the sun simply because they are not as heavily protected as finished leathers.

Characteristics
Hand: Excellent
Cleanability: Moderate

Aniline leathers are the closest to a pure and natural form. These leathers are tanned and colored only with transparent dyes. The transparent dying process allows you to see the rich color hues unique to each hide and shows off each hide’s one of a kind grain pattern. The rarest of Aniline leathers reflect the unaltered full top grain of the surface and have a remarkable skin-like feeling. Aniline leathers can also be made to highlight effects such as wax or oil pull-up, pebble grains, or distressing.

Characteristics
Hand: Excellent
Sun Sensitive: Yes
Cleanability: Moderate

Bycast leathers have a very unique appeal. This type of leather is created by applying a polyurethane coating to either a split or a top grain hide. Bycast leathers can be made in heavy or light pull-ups, pebble grains, hand-wiped effects or distressed effects. Because Bycast leathers are coated with a polyurethane finish they are very sensitive to light and heat.

Characteristics
Hand: Moderate
Sun Sensitive: Yes
Cleanability: Moderate

Nubuk leathers have the most varied and unique textures of all leathers. As soon as you sit down and feel the surface, you will know why people love Nubuk. These leathers are also dyed with transparent dyes, but the surface grain is machined with fine brushes to create the texture and famous Nubuk effect. It is almost like having velvet leather. This effect gives the leather color depth and shading not found in any other type. Nubuk leathers can be made to create many different looks, from the most formal and refined to rugged casual.

Characteristics
Hand: Excellent
Sun Sensitive: Yes
Cleanability: Moderate