The information most people in the retail leather lounge industry do not want you to know. In general, leather is sold in three forms:

• Full-grain leather or top-grain refers to the upper section of a hide that previously contained the epidermis and hair, but were removed from the hide/skin. Full-grain refers to hides that have not been sanded, buffed or snuffed (otherwise known as corrected) in order to remove imperfections (or natural marks) on the surface of the hide, although is never perfect. The grain remains in its natural state which will allow the best fiber strength, resulting in greater durability. The natural grain also has natural breathability, resulting in greater comfort for clothing and furniture. Rather than wearing out, it will develop a natural patina and change in its appearance over time with some cracking and splitting. The finest leather furniture and footwear are made from full-grain leather. For these reasons only the best raw hide are used in order to create full-grain or top-grain leather. Full grain leathers can mainly be bought as two finish types: aniline and semi–aniline.
  Benefits:  lasts a lifetime, gets better with age, breathable and more comfy.

• Corrected-grain leather is any top-grain leather that has had its surfaces sanded, buffed or snuffed in order to remove any imperfection on the surface due to insect bites, healed scars or brands. Top-grain leather is often wrongly referred to as corrected-grain. Although corrected-grain leather is made from top-grain, as soon as the surface is corrected in any way, the leather is no longer referred to as top-grain leather. The hides used to create corrected leather are hides of inferior quality that do not meet the high standards for use in creating aniline or semi-aniline leather. The imperfections are corrected and an artificial grain applied. Most corrected-grain leather is used to make pigmented leather as the solid pigment helps hide the corrections or imperfections. Corrected grain leathers can mainly be bought as two finish types: semi-aniline and pigmented.
  Benefits:  Durable, no marks or abrasions, although can be sticky in hot weather and cold in winter.

• Split or Bicast or PU Leather is leather created from the fibrous part of the hide left once the top-grain of the rawhide has been separated from the hide. During the splitting operation, the grain and drop split are separated. The drop split can be further split (thickness allowing) into a middle split and a flesh split. In very thick hides, the middle split can be separated into multiple layers until the thickness prevents further splitting. Split leather then has an artificial layer of polyurethane applied to the surface of the split and is embossed with a leather grain Bycast was originally made for the shoe industry and recently was adopted by the furniture industry. The resulting product is cheaper than top grain leather and has an artificially consistent texture.  The use of the term ‘leather’ in relation to this bicast treatment is considered a misrepresentation and therefore not permitted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand [1].

• Furniture made with  bicast exhibits none of the characteristics associated with genuine leather ; it will not develop a patina or suppleness nor otherwise “improve with age”. With constant use the polyurethane layer will crack and split free of its backing. [2] [3]

• Modern technology permits up to 3 or 4 horizontal layers being taken from the one hide.
  The leather used in the backing of bicast is a thin, otherwise worthless, layer remaining after better quality layers have been removed for traditional leather work and contributes nothing to the look and feel of the end product:
  Benefits :  Very cheap,  so you may as well just buy vinyl which will actually last longer.

• http://www.shann.com.au/product/category/leather

99% of furniture imported into Australian from Asian countries are made from Bicast or Corrected Grain Leathers.  Even lounges sold in the $10,000 plus catergory are in corrected grain and the consumer is not getting value for money.  Most reputable upholsterers will only recover your lounge in full grain leather which is the only leather in which to have a quality lounge recovered in.

Please call Stuart Ashika or Paul on
Free Call 1300 335 905 or 0411 709 583 any time,
for more information or ordering