Many expensive shoes and handbags are made of “real” leather. But designer footwear and accessories are only a small part of the fashion market.
It can sometimes be difficult to tell if your shoes are made from genuine leather or whether they have been manufactured from artificial materials.
Actually it’s worse.
Shoe manufacturers often use confusing phrases to describe their leather and non-leather shoes so you can’t easily tell what your purchase is made of.
If you’ve seen heels described as “PU leather”, “PU” or “patent” and wondered if they are real leather (or genuine patent leather) then you are not alone.
Faux leather, fake leather, artificial leather and manmade leather are all different ways of saying non-leather. But there are other terms that are more confusing.
This is a particular problem with the shiny shoe and handbag material traditionally known as “patent leather”. The labelling can be so hard to understand that you might think it is done deliberately.
Let’s dig a little deeper and explain the difference between real leather and non-leather shoes.
What is leather?
Leather is a material which is made by processing an animal skin including by chemically treating it. The skin is called a “hide” and the leather making process is called “tanning”.
Tanning starts with removing the hair and fat from the hide. The skin is then chemically treated to preserve it, turning it into a long-lasting material with strength and flexibility: leather.
The characteristics of the finished leather product include its leathery smell, its feel and the way it wears to develop a sheen (known as a “patina”).
Leather is widely used in a variety of objects from seat upholstery to the uppers and soles of shoes. This has been the case for centuries.
The important point is that all leather starts with an animal skin which is treated. Therefore leather is not a vegan product.
If your heels say they are made of “leather”, “real leather” or use the Italian translation “vero cuoio” then you can be sure they are made of leather.
For everything else, read on.
What is artificial leather?
Artificial leather is usually made from polyurethane, which is a kind of plastic. It is often referred to as “PU” or “PU leather” (the “PU” is short for polyurethane).
To be clear, PU leather isn’t leather. It’s polyurethane. Which is plastic.
You may also hear PU leather referred to as “fake leather”, “artificial leather”, “synthetic leather” or “manmade leather”. None of these things are actually leather.
PU and other artificial leather is sometimes made to look like real leather by having a “grain” imprinted on it.
PU leather can also be infused with a leather-like smell. But it is still 100% plastic.
Why are such confusing terms used?
For most top end shoe manufacturers, real leather is a product for which no substitute is accepted.
Unfortunately marketers have loaded the word “leather” to use it to refer to products which are often used in modern footwear manufacturing that are simply not based on animal skins. This means they aren’t really leather.
The reason is simple: real leather is considered luxurious and often more desirable than fake leather. Of course this is not the case for everyone: for example vegans wear only artificial leather.
In response you will sometimes hear actual leather referred to by manufacturers as “real leather” or “genuine leather” when describing the make up of a pair of shoes.
It shouldn’t be be necessary to use these phrases of course because all leather is “real” or “genuine”; it is products that are not actually leather but are pretending to be that should come with the need for an explanation.
The worst example of this concerns patent leather. More on this below.
Is patent leather real leather?
Patent leather is a specific type of leather. This means that patent leather is indeed real leather.
However the real question that you might need to ask yourself when buying patent looking shoes is this: are my shoes actually made of patent leather?
Let me explain.
Patent leather is leather which has been finished with coats of a chemical varnish or layer to give it a shiny appearance.
The important point is that patent leather still has leather as its base; that is, patent leather is still an animal skin that is treated. For that reason, patent leather is indeed leather.
Importantly, though, patent leather has an artificial coating on it to achieve the shiny look.
And it didn’t take anyone long to work out that a similar effect could be achieved with shiny plastic.
Once again though the marketers have tried to pass off man-made shiny “leather” as being real patent leather.
Hence sometimes shoes are referred to as being made of “patent”. This is a very confusing term because it actually means artificial leather with a shiny finish.
In other words, be cautious of a shoe which is described as being made of “patent” because this mostly does not mean that it is patent leather.
Of course if your patent-look shoes are described as “PU”, “synthetic” or any of the other non-leather words we have mentioned above then their composition is more obvious. These shoes might look like patent leather but they are not made of it.