Bags made of original leather are a class part from those made of faux. Whenever you open a wallet to pay for a leather bag, make sure you don’t get fooled and bring home knockdown! With the development of technology it’s becoming a big dilemma to identify real from fake leather. Eventually real leather bag is symbol of status and persona, fake leather reflects tackiness.
Before I start describing master tricks, allow me to give a little information on types of leather. In leather manufacturing, the best grade is Full Grain leather, followed by Top Grain leather, and then the Corrected Grain Leather and finally the lowest graded Split Leather. For high quality bags, mainly first 3 types of leathers are used.
Here we present some master tricks to identify original leather bag so that you don’t end up paying for diamonds and take home shining stones!
1. Rough Edges is the key feature of genuine Leather Bag
Check out the edges of the bag. Original leather bags will always have rough coarse edges while bags made of faux will have almost perfect edges of plastic or something synthetic.
2. Imperfect surface screams Genuine Leather Bag
Does the surface of bag feel like pebbles or grainy? Real leather has an inconsistent pattern with minor imperfections. Fake leather is uniform with evenly spread pores which shouts fake! Moreover, real leather is made of natural animal skin and has uneven pores like ours.
3. Press for Wrinkle Test
Just like human skin, original leather is elastic and change colour while stretching. When you stretch real leather, you will see wrinkly patterns disappearing and coming when you release. Scratch it with your fingernail, real leather regains to original. Fake leather stays unaffected and will preserve its shape and stiffness.
4. Water Soak Test
Genuine leather always absorbs moisture while fake leather never absorbs water rather the water will stay on it. Genuine leather will soak up water or saliva in seconds indicating its credibility.
5. Burning Test to identify Real Leather Bag
Though we don’t recommend you to perform this, but this is just a differentiator test. If you lit a matchstick under leather bag it will not catch fire but emits fleshy pong. Whereas, faux leather burns with a flame and produce smell of burning plastic.
Recommended Read: Genuine Tips and Tricks to Identify Real Fabrics
6. Check the back and holes
Examine the back of the leather closely. If the holes are uneven and has suede finish then bag is original. On the contrary, fake brands stitch a piece of purse’s leather to the tag, backed by cloth or plastic. Moreover, circular and even holes are a dead giveaway.
7. Structure Test: Real Vs Fake Leather Bag
The biggest telling sign between original and fake leather bag is the overall quality. When you placed both down, the authentic leather bag will be much sturdier, structured and stood up straight. The fake leather will not stand straight; stay folded, and will not be structured.
8. Smell to spot original leather bag
Use your sense of smell to test for originality of leather bags. Real leather always smell ‘leathery’ even if its treated while fake leather always smell plastic or synthetic.
9. Zipper Test of original Leather Bag
Zippers, Tags and Belts are add-ons which add luxury to genuine leather bags. A smooth zipper is the ideal memento of leather original bag whereas a struggling hard zipper indicates it’s fake.
10. The warmth story of leather bag
if your leather bag gives a cosy, warmth feel then congrats dearie you have got yourself a genuine leather bag. you can easily spot the difference between fake and original with your touch, a fake bag will give cold, comatose touch. Coming to weight, original leather bag will be heavy as it will have high quality buckles, zippers and studs. On the other hand, fake leather will be light in weight having poor quality accessories.
11. Buy from Reputed Seller
We are not aficionados and it takes practice to differentiate between real and fake. We suggest you to spend your hard earned cash and buy from a trustworthy seller and store. As we always appreciate the article in a spacious and well lit so prefer buying it during the day.
12. Focus on label
First and foremost thing to look in a leather bag is label. If it says ‘genuine leather’ or ‘100% real leather’ go ahead! Next check if hardware is plated in gold. If it ticks all the right boxes its fit to be your arm candy.
13. Real leather is always costly
If you got a green signal from the primary examination check the price tag. A real leather bag is always a pricey game and you won’t find something too reasonable. No store will sell their leather bags in half price and make a loss.
Say NO to fake leather bags
From few years, famous streets are flooded with Louis Vuitton and Hermès counterfeits. Big brands style and design are easy to copy but one cannot imitate their luxury quality. Even if we think from humanity point, counterfeiters produce their merchandise in unregulated factories, employ child labour, and have unhealthy working conditions to save costs.
Don’t you think you deserve a REAL luxury leather bag before you walk out of the house?
Final Words: The real look of original leather bag is because of their sturdiness, refined and classy appeal. So next time you spot an amazing leather bag in boutique window, take a closer look, examine on the basis of above points.
Jessika Perkins
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