How to care for a leather bag in the monsoon
Humidity, not rain, is what damages leather in Kolkata. Here is how to keep a bag through July and August.
Full-grain, top-grain and genuine leather
Three phrases on bag labels, and what each one really means for how a bag ages.
Leather labels are designed to sound alike. They are not alike, and the difference decides whether a bag lasts three years or thirty.
Full-grain leather is the top layer of the hide with its natural surface intact. It keeps every pore and mark, it is the strongest part of the hide, and it develops a patina as it ages. Every bag we make is full-grain.
Top-grain leather has had its surface sanded and refinished to remove marks. It looks more uniform when new, but the strongest layer has been partly removed, and the finish can crack and peel after a few years.
Genuine leather is a legal phrase that usually means split leather: the lower layers of the hide, coated with a printed surface. It is real leather in the way chipboard is real wood. Below that sits bonded leather, made from scraps glued together, which is not worth buying at any price.
When you shop, ask to smell the inside and see a cut edge. Full-grain shows dense fibres all the way through.
