Colour Quality
From LeatherLink Knowledge Base
Contents |
Colour and Quality
Which color is of better quality?
Which color leather to buy? It is a question of personal taste and choice. However, if we know the relative characters of different color leathers, we can get the most value for our money
Introduction
Is there any relation between the color of the leather and its grade?
The price of finished leather is largely influenced by the cost of raw hide used for making that type of leather and the cost of processing (chemicals and manufacturing) required to get the desired properties.
It is a known fact that depending on the color and finishing of the leather, the grade of raw hide can be different for the same level of finished leather grading.
Let us see, how it works.
How do we see color?
We see different colors depending on the light reflected from the product reaching our eye. If all the light is reflected back (and none absorbed) by the surface, we see white. If no light is reflected back (everything is absorbed) we see black. If only some part is reflected back (the other part is absorbed) we see the color of the reflected part.
Thus a leather jacket is blue, because it reflects the blue part and keeps the other part of the white light, a sofa is red colored, because it reflects the red part and keeps the remaining part of the white light falling on it.
How the leather grade is perceived?
Our ability to perceive the details of a surface depends on the nature and amount of light reflected from it. If less or no light is reflected by the surface, we may not be able to see the details of the surface. Thus, a black surface will hide many of its features as compared to a white surface which will highlight it surface features.
Non pigment finished leathers (Suedes, nubucks, full aniline leathers and oil leathers)
It is clear from the above discussion that the defects on the leather surface will show more easily on a white, light or bright colored leather compared to black or dark colored leather. The natural grain characters will be highlighted in light or bright colored leathers, giving a better aesthetic effect. Obviously these require better grade raw hides
On the other hand, leathers of darker and duller colors such as black, brown, navy etc, will not show off the minute defects on the surface. Therefore, relatively lower grade material can be used for making these leathers
However, for the pastel shades such as beige, bone, cream etc. the color is closer to the natural color of the chrome tanned leather and the amount of dyes used to color the leather is less compared to brighter shades such as light purple, yellow, light blue etc or darker shades such as black, navy, brown etc.
Thus, bright shades requires better grade raw material and large amount of dyes. For lighter colored leathers even though the dye cost is lower the raw material cost is high. Darker shades can be made from relatively poorer grade raw material, but require large amount of dyestuff.
Therefore, on a rough scale of estimation we can say that dark colored (black, navy) are the least expensive followed by light colored leathers and then by the brighter shade leathers, as far as aniline finished or suede and nubuck leathers are concerned.
Pigment finished leathers
Finish coatings have varying amount of covering power, the ability to hide the defects and grain pattern of the leather surface. The covering power is provided largely by the pigment used in the finishing mix.
The covering power of in-organic pigments are greater compared to the organic pigments due to their larger particle size. In-organic pigments are also cheaper than organic pigments.
White pigments are almost always in-organic in origin and have high covering power and are cheap.
Therefore, leathers finished with large quantities of white pigment containing finish formulations will have their surface well covered. Thus, hides with higher degree of defects can be used for finishing in colors such as white (obviously), bone, cream, grey etc. Therefore, for pigment finished leathers of these colors, the raw hide cost, dyeing cost and finishing cost all are low.
Brighter pigments are always organic in nature. Therefore, bright colors such as pink, light purple, light yellow etc can be finished only using organic pigments which are more expensive and have low covering power. Thus these leathers should be made from hides of better grade and the dyeing and finishing costs are also higher.
Darker and duller shades such as black, navy, brown etc can be finished using organic or in-organic pigments depending on the requirement. As a general rule it can be said that the brighter shades are made using organic pigments and duller shades use in-organic pigments with the associated lower and higher raw material cost and finishing cost.
Conclusion
Thus while negotiating the price of leather or evaluating the value of a product consider the type of finish on the surface and also the color of the surface.
