Although leather sofas look great to look at and to sit on, they do need to be treated as a long term investment of sorts, meaning that you need to care for them properly. With this in mind, try to evaluate how careful that you will be with your new purchase.
Ultimately if you are looking for something that could be considered to be more durable, for example if you have pets, then a cheaper grade of leather, with a protective layer of coating would make more sense for you to purchase than a top grade, non durable material.
Before you purchase furniture of this type, you should have a look at your cleaning habits, due to the fact that many different grades of leather need different cleaning amounts. Although you may not think this, it is actually the top grade of leather that requires the most care and attention!
If you have a top grade hide without any blemishes it can usually be treated with aniline dye, which in turn keeps the leathers natural characteristics. In addition to this, you shouldn’t apply any other protection, otherwise its suppleness may be compromised.
A semi aniline leather, as the name suggests is not pure aniline leather, it has also had a protective coating or colour pigments applied to it.
This is often done by manufacturers to even out the level of colouring – often on the basis of customer research. Although the colour finish is likely to be more well rounded, the stiffer the leather becomes.
