In today’s furniture market, there are a number of offers to buy upholstered furniture coated in a cover, the properties of which, as advertised, are “very similar” to the properties of natural leather, or even superior to natural leather. Warning – try to find out what it really is.

The names of these covers are not accidentally made up of word combinations so that they also contain the word “leather” – kenetic leather, regenerated leather, structured leather, pressed leather, thin leather,nano technology leather to create a misleading image of genuine leather for the buyer. Even the brand that describes natural leather is cut from synthetic substitutes by some furniture manufacturers for advertising  in order to create the greatest possible (misleading) image of genuine leather.

We must inform consumers that only genuine leather has the properties of natural leather, and that various substitutes can only imitate it. Genuine leather is natural, and its substitutes, whatever their names are, are only artificial.

The leather used for the furniture is cowhide, one sheet of leather is ~ 3.5 ÷ 5.5 m2 in size, and all artificial “leather” is produced in factories and rolled into rolls. Ask the furniture manufacturer or retailer what form of upholstery they buy, in sheets or in rolls? If in rolls then it is only a substitute of leather.

Genuine leather is a unique product that originated when man made tools, and is valued to this day. The craftsmanship and experience required in the manufacture of leather goods is incomparably greater than in the manufacture of substitutes. All you have to do is unwind the substitutes from the rolls and lay them on the cutting table, and when working with natural leather, another additional process awaits –- a thorough inspection and an initial quality check before cutting. This requires qualified people and additional time consumption. The process of cutting, sewing, and pulling genuine leather on the carcass is also more difficult than working with substitutes, just because of the weight of genuine leather. It is a much heavier material than substitutes or tapestry, which is why not every worker or manufacturer decides to work with genuine leather. UAB “Juodasis alksnis” (Black Alder) is probably the oldest Lithuanian manufacturer of leather furniture, the main employees have not changed for eleven years, therefore, we can say that we have accumulated enough experience in the production of leather furniture. 

Using leather furniture will be more pleasant and it is more durable, just as wearing leather shoes or haberdashery is more pleasant than those of made of dermatine.

We would like to remind consumers of the “eco-leather” bubble; today it is already known that the so-called “eco-leather” wears out very quickly and the so-called breathing pores bring textile fibers to the surface, but ten years ago this material was highly regarded as durable, breathable, and corresponding to the properties of natural leather.

The latest substitutes on the market  have only been around for two years, but there are already complaints about them. We recommend impregnated and really easy-to-care tapestries for buyers, who want long-term use, but do not want natural leather furniture. The tapestry will be more durable than artificial leather substitutes, it will definitely not crack!

Undesirable properties of natural leather are stretching or fading over time, but synthetic artificial substitutes have greater disadvantages, not to mention the fact that these products do not have the properties of natural leather at all.

Another way to distinguish natural leather from substitutes is based on information received from the seller about upholstery care. Natural leather, like the skin of our hands, needs to be cared for to prevent cracking, and special tools have been developed to periodically clean and impregnate the furniture. If the seller informs you that it is enough to clean the upholstery only with a damp cloth, then it will definitely not be natural leather!

When buying leather furniture , in order to save some cost, a leather substitute can be used on non-wearing parts of the furniture, such as back and sides;  the color and texture of which are matched to natural leather. However,  all other parts of the furniture, such as seat, backrest, and armrests must be made using natural leather, but we recommend our customers to choose completely natural leather upholstered furniture.

We have nothing against leather substitutes (faux leather), we just want the consumers who wants to buy genuine leather furniture not to be misled, and that they would buy genuine leather furniture, but not the furniture covered with a substitute.

Below you can see what leather substitute upholstered furniture looks like after just a few years of use:

After only a few years of use, the surface synthetic layer of faux leather peeled off and began to crumble.