The word "Suede"
is actually taken from the French phrase, "gants de Suede, which
translates to "Swedish Gloves". In most cases, suede is
produced from small skins such as pigskin, calfskin, goatskin, kidskin,
and lambskin, and on occasion, cowhide.
There are differences between leather and suede, each offering its
own characteristics and advantages. The differences between suede
and leather include:
- Smooth leather, also called grain leather is the top outer layer
of the animal's skin. The difference between leather and suede is
the finish applied to that skin.
- Suede is typically the underside of the hide that has been buffed
to a smooth surface. Additionally, suede can be split from a thick
hide with the top surface of the new layer looking like suede but
not nearly as soft.
To help you determine which is best for your specific need, consider
these differences as outlined below:
Advantages of Leather
This material is extremely versatile. It can keep you warm in the
winter and cool during the summer. Because leather offers such outstanding
insulation characteristics, it has the ability to provide both ventilation
and evaporation. If you are looking for something that will provide
years of service and durability, nothing beats good, quality leather.
In fact, leather's popularity and value can actually increase over
time rather than depreciate. Being among the oldest materials known
to man, with all the tanning options, leather can be used for so many
things such as clothing, shoes, handbags, luggage, saddlery, sporting
equipment, and so on.
When buying, remember that leather is typically sold by the square
foot with an average hide measuring from 54 to 62 square feet. Depending
on the type of leather, quality of the leather, and location from
which the leather comes (Russia, Asia, Canada), you could pay anywhere
from $2.65 to $15.00 or more per square foot. For instance, good,
quality goatskin might run about $12.00 per square foot while kangaroo
leather, from $11.00 per square foot.
Advantages of Suede
With suede, you get a different look and feel depending on the hide.
For example, with goatskin, the nap would be fine and shiny while
with cowhide, you would have a coarse, long nap.
Suede is the leather that has a velvet-like surface on the corium
layer. The nice thing about suede is that even hides that have a bad
grain surface can be used as long as the corium layer is not affected.
However, if the skin has inside defects or deep scars from disease,
flay cuts, or vein marks, then it could not be used. Suede is an excellent
choice for trendy outerwear and accessories.
Suede is an excellent option and while not always cheap, it is typically
cheaper in price than leather. For example, you could purchase economy
cow suede weight 3/4-ounce for $2.50 per square foot or for 2/3-ounce,
$2.40 per square foot. The nap of suede is produced from buffering
or wheeling on the flesh surface, also called the split side of the
flesh.
However, to produce velvet suede, the grain side is buffed. To determine
if the suede is high quality, the fibers of the nap should all be
uniform in length and packed together tightly. This is what creates
resilience to the nap.
For instance, if you were to run your fingers along the suede, you
would not see any finger marks. Therefore, when buying suede, run
your fingers down the hide and if you see heavy finger marks, the
quality is poor. If you see only slight marks or no marks at all,
the suede is high quality.
Additionally, the firmness of the nap will be dependant on the density
as well as how compact the fiber structure is. If comparing velvet
suede to flesh suede, you would find the velvet to be much finer.
The goal in making quality suede leather is to retain a fine nap while
still producing soft and supple leather.
If possible, find out how the suede was made. If you find that a method
called Fatliquoring was used, you want to avoid buying that particular
piece. The reason is that with this method, oil was used and if even
the smallest amount of oil is used in the process the result will
be a greasy nap.
Suede is a very popular choice for many people when it comes to coats
and jackets. Some information floating around indicates that suede
can be washed in the washing machine using cold water on a gentle
cycle with Woolite. If you find this interesting but feel skeptical,
before you do anything read the label!
Washing Suede
If you own a suede garment, the tag should provide you with care instructions
so before you toss a suede jacket into the washing machine make sure
you read the label. Normally water and suede do not mix, so chances
are the suede garments people refer to as being "washable"
are made from a special type of washable suede.
Keep in mind that there are two kinds of suede. The first is from
leather and the second is what is called ultra suede, which is a non-woven
micro-polymer based fabric that is not suede or leather at all. Do
you remember 'naugahyde'? It's the same thing since Naugahyde is vinyl-coated
fabric, not hide.
Consumers report that it is hard to tell the difference between washable
suede and the real stuff'. The technology to make wash-n-wear leather
was developed in the late 1990s. The process involved coating the
leather with an enzyme and then pre-washing it to make it strong enough
to toss in the wash.
Garments made of this type of leather started popping up at retailers
and in less than two years was flying off store shelves. The appeal
is obvious - dry cleaning is expensive at $50 or more and coats never
come out looking or feeling the same, no matter how good the drycleaner.
Some makers claim that their washable suede not only stands up to
the washer, as long as it is gentle, but can be tossed in the dryer
on low. There are mixed reports about how items made by different
clothing manufactures actually fare during the washing and drying
process.
Soil removal works for some but not all types of stains. For example,
in one test, oil came out reasonably well while cola stains did not
come out at all.
Additionally, some color loss occurred around stress points such as
buttonholes. Some garments seem to gain in wrinkles what they had
lost in dirt.
Dry-Cleaning
Another complaint was with regular suede that has been dry-cleaned
the garments stiffened and did not seem like the same coat. If you
dry-clean a washable suede garment, it may stiffen or roughen. If
your coat is not washable suede, there are things you can do to lengthen
the time between dry cleaning, with one caveat - do not wait too long
between cleaning. Remember, the longer dirt and oil sit on the coat,
the more it permeates the pores and the harder it becomes to remove.
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