Office chair imitation leather or leather?
Literally jacket or trousers, whatever the purchase: at some point the question of material always arises. What will it be: Natural or synthetic, original or imitation? Especially when it comes to leather, opinions differ. Only the view from the eyes of an animal rights activist makes the consideration a simple matter. Animals have to give their lives for leather and that is unacceptable, full stop. On the other hand, artificial leather still has a bad reputation. You sweat more easily with it, for example, they say, it feels cheap and is also less durable than real leather. Is that true?
Content:
Targeting the prejudices
It would actually be the job of scientists to approach this subject exhaustively. But even without a test tube or Bunsen burner, a few essential clues can be found to the differences between leather and imitation leather, which in turn lead to their advantages and disadvantages. Just a little bit of material science, for example, helps enormously. Of course, the topic of "leather or imitation leather" is particularly interesting when it comes to its use as an upper material for furniture. It is true that a leather jacket or a pair of real leather shoes is a purchase for many years, which is correspondingly expensive. But at the end of the day, clothing is always subject to fashion trends.
The situation is different with furniture. The Chesterfield couch, the Bauhaus sofa or the club chair are classics that look good in almost any context. Leather has also established itself in the office, especially on the executive floors: The executive chair, the conference chair or the high-end office chair looks many times more elegant when it is not covered with plastic, upholstery or mesh fabric, but with leather. Or even an imitation leather. There is no longer any visual difference between the two materials (leather office chair or imitation leather office chair). Gone are the days when you could tell from three metres away against the wind that one of its components was a plastic compound. In the meantime, office chair leatherette manufacturers have succeeded in deceptively copying the natural grain structure of genuine leather. In all other respects, however, the original and the imitation differ fundamentally.
A closer look at the original
Leather is a natural product. More precisely, it is animal skin that is made durable through a chemical process. It is obtained from the so-called hide of an animal by tanning it. The process creates a more durable product from the perishable skin, which is subject to the natural processes of decomposition. After tanning, the leather has a smooth side and a rough side. The smooth is called the "grain side" and has a fine, individual surface texture. Its reverse side, the "flesh side", has a rougher surface.
It is only during further processing that leather acquires the appearance familiar from its use in clothing, furniture or shoes. For nubuck leather, for example, the grain side of the leather is roughened with very fine sandpaper, while for suede the flesh side is sanded. For a smooth leather jacket, the material would be sprayed with several layers of binders, pigments and additives and then ironed, polished or butted so that the coating is firmly anchored to the leather. With this treatment, it becomes more resistant and can remain matt or be given a shine. For patent leather, a different treatment is needed: with the help of oil varnish, cold varnish or foil varnish, leather becomes shiny patent leather.
The fact that the natural product leather is still highly prized by most people can also be explained by looking back at the past: Its history is closely linked to the history of mankind. Along with wood, stone and wool, it is one of the earliest materials used and has served mankind in many ways: as a material for shoes, clothing and weapons, as a material for bags and jewellery, as a cover for chests and caskets or furniture. Not infrequently, it was also used as a material for dwellings - the best known of which is probably the "tepee", a tent made of deer and buffalo leather that was comparatively easy for the original inhabitants of North America to erect and dismantle.
A closer look at the copy
Synthetic leather, on the other hand, is comparatively young. Since the production costs for leather are quite high, resourceful people tried to create a substitute for real leather quite early on. Only with the possibilities of modern chemistry has it become possible to create a product that resembles the natural product - but is fundamentally different in its properties.
This is mainly due to the fact that artificial leather is a composite of a textile base, i.e. a machine-woven cloth, and a top layer made of plastic. For the fabric, either natural fibres or artificial and sometimes even mixed forms of these are used. The coating is either soft PVC or polyurethane. The coating is chemically foamed or mechanically agitated so that the artificial leather comes close to the original.
Imitation leather has been around for far less time than leather, namely only for decades. But the attempt to find a cheap alternative has probably been around for a long time, as a glance at the classic "Mercks Warenlexikon" reveals. In the third edition of the "Nachschlagewerk der Warenkunde für Handel, Industrie und Gewerbe" from 1884, the following can be found under the entry "Leather surrogates": "These are artificial products that are intended to replace leather. Efforts have been made for a long time to produce such products, but no one has succeeded in inventing a product that meets all the requirements and, in particular, in replacing certain types of leather.
This unflattering description is followed by the qualification that at least some surrogates have been produced that can replace leather at least in certain cases or even surpass it in terms of resistance to water and weather.
Standoff: A comparison of the two materials
Which brings us knee-deep into the differences between the two products, which are visually similar but fundamentally different in terms of content. Due to their different structure, the two materials cope differently with water, fire or mechanical impact.
Water
While imitation leather can be considered almost waterproof, which is mainly due to the plastic coating, moisture penetrates genuine leather through its natural pores. Up to a certain amount of water, of course, nothing happens, but depending on how strongly liquid acts on the natural material, it will eventually pass through.
Mechanical impact
Depending on the manufacturing process and the quality of the artificial leather, it is almost indestructible. It neither changes its shape when subjected to strong mechanical impact, nor can it be pierced with normal force - except, of course, with the help of sharp objects. Real leather, on the other hand, loses its shape comparatively quickly, gives way under tension and dents when worn on one side.
Fire
Imitation leather can withstand body heat and sunlight well up to a certain point, but it is flammable at a relatively early stage. It would not survive a cigarette burn, and you can set it on fire with a standard lighter. With real leather, on the other hand, even a Bunsen burner reaches its limits: even in the highest temperature ranges, it glows at best - but smells terribly.
Care
Both materials are more or less equally resistant to stains. Almost all dirt and liquid residues can be removed from both imitation leather and genuine leather with the right household remedy. The bottom line is that imitation leather is easier to care for: genuine leather needs to be treated with oil or wax from time to time so that it does not lose its suppleness.
Comfort
The best-known prejudice against imitation leather is that you sweat more easily. Here the rule is clear: the cheaper the imitation leather office chair is made, the more likely this assumption is to be true. The culprit is the plastic used in the coating, which does not let water into the fabric, but does not let air out either. As far as the handle is concerned, a lot has changed in the meantime. Whereas a good ten years ago it was usually very easy to recognise imitation leather by feel, modern processes have made the original and the imitation look amazingly similar.
Ecological assessment
It is not possible to make a serious assessment of which material has a greater impact on the environment. The processes by which leather and imitation leather are produced are too different - even the specialists say so. The production of artificial leather requires chemicals, lots of water and, of course, the main ingredient of plastic: crude oil. Although leather is a natural product, its production also produces lots of pollutants: The breeding of the animals releases exhaust gases, the production of feed produces pollutants - and a lot of chemicals are used in the processing. Which process is more harmful to the environment depends on the individual case. Despite the tie, there is a point deduction for genuine leather because it requires the death of a living creature.
Price
As far as costs are concerned, imitation leather is clearly ahead. Depending on production and quality, the price of imitation leather is about 50 to 70 percent lower than that of real leather.
Conclusion:
If you look at the individual factors with a sober eye, it is hard to believe why imitation leather still has such a bad reputation: it is cheaper, more resistant and more individually manufactured than real leather. The fact that it is easier to sweat with imitation leather may indeed be significant for shoes and clothing. For office furniture or desks, on the other hand, this point is negligible; and all the other points clear advantages: chairs wear out less, couches are easier to clean and office chairs are visually elegant and come in a variety of colours.
