Types of Leather For Shoes

Leather is comfortable, breathes, absorbs moisture, lightweight and strong and shapes itself to the foot

Miscellaneous Leather Types

Smooth Leather...the obvious surface finish...broad terms used.

Grain leather...primarily in connection with lesser priced footwear...usually lower grades of cowhide and split leather.

Antiqued...contrasting color spot sprayed on leather surface...rubbed to create highlights...part of footwear manufacturing process.

Wax Finish...wax is worked into the flesh side of heavier weights of leather, resulting in a distinctive finish often used in casual styles.

Brush-off leather...color added to surface by tanner...manufacturer uses brushing wheel to take off some coloring material...changes color tone.

Lining leather...can be most any leather...from various animals including cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, kangaroo.

Deerskin...hides of deer...chrome tanned...provided to tanner by hunters and collectors of hides...very supple...extremely porous.

Aniline...produces a transparent mirrored look showing the grain pattern.

Rawhide laces...side leather...mineral tanned (usually combination of alum, chrome and vegetable tannages)...sides are stripped (cut in many sizes and thicknesses and lengths)...dyed various colors.

Pigment...gives an opaque surface more like painted over and covers grain, scars etc.

Suede...merely buffed to create nap.

Types of Leather

Calfskin
Leather made from the skins of young cattle, generally no older then 3-4 weeks. It is primarily used in better-grade men's and women's dress shoes. Calfskin leather is twice or more than the cost of side leather.

Advantages: beautiful grain, lightweight yet stron, highly porous, high ability to risist scuffing, excellent conformability, hold a shine with deep color hold.

Veal
Leather made from the skins of older cattle, generally 3-6 months. It is primarily used in casual styles of footwear. Veal is rich in character with a coarser grain than calfskin.

Advantages: high conformability, hold a shine with deep color hold, breathability and distictive grain.

Full Grain Side Leather
Side leather used for shoe uppers is the most versatile leather used. It is also used for other parts including linings.

Shoe upper leather consists of the hair side of cattle hides. The name side leather originated from dividing a hide along the backbone into two halves or "sides". This is the most commonly used shoe upper leather.

Full grain and top grain are the same. Natural hide surface is developed with finishing from premium hides.

Advantages: breathable, very servicable and conformable, aesthetic and responding to fashion trends

Nubuc
A slightly buffed version of side leather. Split Leather or Brushed Leather. Split leather is created when thick cattle sides are machine split to obtain a desired side leather thickness. The top portion is the grain layer; the bottom or underneath is the split layer and referred to as "split".

Footwear with split leather uppers will be priced lower. Split leather is chrome tanned and generally comparatively lightweight. To the unpracticed eye, it may be difficult to identify split leather from reverse side leather.

Advantages: lightweight, flexible, can be used for both insoles & outsoles, nice grain appearance and color density.

Kidskin Leather
Kidskin finished on the flesh side for use in footwear is commonly called SUEDE. Leather made from the skin of young or mature goats. From the Calf it's called Kidskin. Kidskin is more expensive than side leather but less expensive than calf. It is primarily used on women's better-grade dress shoes.

Suede or sueding is a process of sandpapering, abrading a hide or skin. Sueded kidskin (kidskin suede) is developed through a specially created series of treatments with natural and chemical materials and solutions.

Advantages: strong and very soft and porous, choice fashion design latitude, lightweight and resilent.

Pigskin
Pigskin leather is produced from the skins of domestic pigs and hogs. Most pigskin leather in footwear is sueded or "brushed" on the grain side. Pigs are an aggressive animal, the grain surface of the skins are heavily scarred and damaged and less pleasing to the eye. Pigskin is aesthetically difficult, when finished as full grain, smooth leather for footwear.

Pigskin leather's affinity for dyes makes possible a wide range of colors that are used in volume fashion shoes and boots not only in women's but also in men's and children's styles. This special signature of nature makes pigskin leather easily distinguishable as well as distinctive.

Advantages: extremely porous, lightweight, flexible supple and dureable.