The purpose of leather finishing is to embellish the leather, to give it a specific colour and shine. It helps to protect the leather. The finishing of leather affects the look, the feel and the strength of the leather. We distinguish 3 leather finishes: aniline, semi-aniline and pigmented.
The aniline finish:
The aniline finish consists of applying a light transparent layer, which is thin and does not alter the texture of the leather. This thin film preserves the natural appearance of the leather and all the beauty of this material. This finish also aims to preserve the particularity of each hide. This is the finish most appreciated by connoisseurs for its natural, warm and authentic appearance. High quality full grain leathers are usually treated with aniline finish.
Our saddle leathers with an aniline finish are : Niagara shoulder, Niagara half-back, Angel, Boyoma half-back and Stretched Boyoma.
The semi-aniline finish:
This finish is achieved by applying a combination of an aniline and a pigmented layer, which lightly covers the hide. This makes the colours more uniform, slightly veils the skin's roughness and makes the leather more resistant to soiling.
Our Printed Gavarnie saddle leather has a semi-aniline finish.
The pigmented finish :
This finish consists of applying an opaque layer of pigment in order to completely cover the roughness of the leather. The more pigments are sprayed on, the more the leather will look and feel like a synthetic material: "plastic" touch, degraded thermal comfort, increased risk of perspiration, cracking phenomena. This finish is generally applied to corrected (sanded) grain leather. This finish ensures good protection of the leather against light, rubbing and stains. There is a wide variety of looks and colours, but the appearance is much less natural than the aniline finish.
Our dyed pykara leather and Deitan split leather have a pigmented finish.
