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If you came to this section, it means you are curious to know what makes our leather choice so special. Let's start with the name: full grain glazed vegetable tanned leather.
There are many detailed explanations about vegetable tanned leather on the internet. Let us give you a brief overview. The hides are soaked in natural substances taken from plants, branches, and trees such as chestnut, oak, and mimosa; hence the name vegetable tanning. No harmful chemicals are used at any time. The process consists of repeatedly soaking the leather and processing it for close to three months, which is too long and expensive. Tanners through history have devised new ways to gain more time and shorten the process to one or two days through using chemicals to develop what is known as chrome-tanned leather. Vegetable tanned leather is environmentally friendly and sustainable. Its traditional artisanal aspect requiring high skills of craftsmanship makes it more exclusive and sought out in the manufacturing of the highest quality and most prestigious products. One important thing to know is that where vegetable tanned products start out stiff, they tend to become smoother and mellower as they age. Since no chemicals are added to stabilize the color and the leather preserves its natural tones and properties, it becomes darker as it ages and is affected by direct sunlight. It also gains a rich patina that emphasizes its earthy warm feel and colors.
Full grain refers to the part of the leather which is directly under the hairs of the animal, the upper part of the skin. It is the most beautiful kind of leather available as you can see the pores and the grains of the skin. Many times the leather has irregularities and imperfections reflecting the environmental habitat of the animal. The cow or buffalo could have been bitten by insects, scarred by injuries, marked by ranchers, etc. When the skin is not clean and has been submitted to injuries and imperfections, the grain needs to be corrected. In this case, it is sanded and buffed (about 1 mm from the top is brushed off). It will seem more uniform but it will also lose the original look and durability of the hide. Sometimes a fake grain stamp is printed again to cover the uniformity after sanding. In this case, it is called top grain leather.
Other kinds of "imperfections" are a wrinkled neck that leaves lines or veins that look like roads in maps. These are not considered imperfections; they are proof to the genuineness of the leather, they are what make leather what it is: natural and alive. Many companies try to print the full grain effect on their synthetic versions but they can never give the real feel and the real look which makes full grain leathers unique. As no two animals are equal, leathers cannot be uniform or equal either. When professionally tanned, the full grain leather will develop a patina after long-time usage and it will be nicer the more it ages.
Glazing is also called glassing. Glazing is part of the process of the leather tanning. The leather is covered with a special coating and left to dry. Then the leather surface is polished to a high shine by the action of a piece of glass attached to a machine called a jacking machine that polishes the leather under tremendous pressure. The heat and friction generated by the continuous stroking produces different color effects on the leather and gives it a natural shine, depth, and beauty.
