How to identify real Italian leather easily

How to identify real Italian leather easily

November 10, 2019

What is the difference between real Italian leather and faux leather? And what about the undesired fake leather?

Here are some tricks to distinguish between real Italian leather and other materials.

First, it is not so easy to understand if what we have ahead is made of real Italian leather or not, because aesthetically it can look very similar to the real one. The distinction is basically made by the different quality of the materials. In quanto

Genuine leather is flexible, soft, and It is characterized by a strong and warm smell. In fact, real Italian leather is far more resistant than other similar materials. Since the different durability, real Italian leather is way a more good form of investment in comparison to other materials. In quanto

How to identify real Italian leather easily

If you're looking for authentic Italian leather goods,

choosing a made in Tuscany product can be one of the best solutions available. The most important aspect you have to take into consideration in order to recognize this material by yourself is the unmistakable leather smell. 

Real Italian leather has a distinctive and unmistakable smell, a quite strong one actually. If you have two objects in your hands, one in real leather and the other one in faux leather, just smell them, you will immediately realize the difference. Other materials will not smell of anything (at best) or a sensation of naphtha will occur. While real Italian leather is a sort of everlasting material (It even gets better after years of usage),  faux and fake leather don't have this characteristic. This is because plastic fibers are very different from the real Italian leather ones.

Other methods to test real Italian leather, like the one that Infinity Firenze adopts (coming from the tanneries of Santa Croce sull'Arno), are: In quanto

  • The use of a lighter. Authentic leather, because of its chemical treatment does not react to fire and fibers are not modified by the fire produced by the lighter. In quanto
  • Dropping water on the surface. Drop a drop of water on the leather good and leave it there for about thirty seconds. Authentic leather absorbs water without altering the structure of its fibers (and therefore without being damaged). In quanto

Notwithstanding that, be aware that some leather goods like jackets, might have been treated in tannery to become water repellent. In this case water won't be absorbed but the smell of genuine leather will always be recognizable.