Here at The English Sofa Company, we have four different categories for our leathers. These are Full Grain, Antique, Old Vintage Aniline, and Premium Aniline. But what do these names mean?
Full Grain Leather
Our cheapest of the types of leather is Full Grain leather. The leathers in this collection are the hardest wearing of our leather categories, so they’re ideal if you have children or pets that are likely to be using the furniture or spilling liquids onto it. Within the Full grain category, there’s the dune collection, which is our most durable leather. This is corrected grain leather, meaning that natural marks and scars that may occur have been removed.
Antique Leather
In the same price range as our Full Grain leather is our Antique leather collection. You will mainly find this option on our Chesterfield sofas, as the leather style suits the classic styling of the sofas. All of the leather colours in our Antique range are classed as Rub Off leather, which means that they are hand rubbed to add a two tone effect, which creates a vintage look that is perfect for our Chesterfield sofas.
Old Vintage Aniline Leather
Next in our collection is the Old Vintage Aniline leather category. This collection is very distressed leather, with lots of character and unique marks and scars from the hide. The category consists of four different ranges-Santa Fe, Vintage, and Apache. The first two ranges are quite similar, as they both have an element of durability whilst maintaining their natural look, and are treated with wax and oils to give them a soft feel. Our Apache range is a bit different to the other aniline leathers, as this is still fairly durable, but has a softer feel and features a matte finish with a multi-tonal effect.
Premium Aniline Leather
The last of our categories is our most expensive one-Premium Aniline leather. These types of leather feature seven different ranges which all share similar characteristics, although some ranges vary in shine and look. All of our Premium Aniline leather is luxuriously soft to the touch, and provides a stunning range of colours to choose from. Some of our ranges feature a high shine and some rich colours, such as our Matera range. Others, like our Selvaggio collection, are still incredibly soft but come with a matte finish whilst keeping the natural look of the hide. Other collections within the Premium Aniline Leather category are known as Pull Up leathers, which means that they still have a high shine, but over time will move and shift with use, which brings out natural tones and colours in the leather, giving your sofa that extra bit of character. Due to the softness of these leathers, they are more susceptible to wear, so are better for homes without children or pets who are likely to damage it.
As with all of our leathers, batch variation can occur, and we recommend that you order a swatch from our website or over the phone to truly see the characteristics of each leather range.
Our Leather Collections
Each range of leather (antique, full grain, old vintage aniline and premium aniline) contains collections of leather with its own characteristics. Read below for some more detailed information on our range of leathers.
Antique – a durable corrected grain leather that requires minimal care. To keep your leather looking its best we recommend quickly blotting up any spills or stains with a midly damp cloth. The leather may benefit from treatment every 6/12 months with a leather maintenance cream.
Dune
To keep your leather looking its best we recommend quickly blotting up any spills or stains with a midly damp cloth. The leather may benefit from treatment every 6/12 months with a leather maintenance cream.
Winchester
A heavy-weight, pigmented leather that has been lightly embossed and buffed to create grain uniformity across the hide’s surface
To keep your leather looking its best we recommend quickly blotting up any spills or stains with a mildly damp cloth. The leather may benefit from treatment every 6/12 months with a leather maintenance cream.
Vintage
To keep your leather looking its best we recommend quickly blotting up any spills or stains with a mildly damp cloth. The leather may benefit from treatment every 6/12 months with a leather maintenance cream.
Santa Fe
With the Santa Fe leather collection you are guaranteed a sofa with character. The leather has the natural marks and scars of the hide left in to create a truly unique piece of furniture for your home.
To keep your leather looking its best we recommend quickly blotting up any spills or stains with a mildly damp cloth. The leather may benefit from treatment every 6/12 months with a leather maintenance cream.
Apache A semi-aniline leather with a waxy crackle effect. The distinctive qualities of this article are its smooth, silky hand feel and its gentle matte finish. Apache has been designed to resist scratching and have virtually minimal variation.
To keep your leather looking its best we recommend quickly blotting up any spills or stains with a mildly damp cloth. The leather may benefit from treatment every 6/12 months with a leather maintenance cream.
Selvaggio
This distressed, pull-up leather has been lightly brushed with beeswax to give a pleasant matt appearance. It is also designed to allow the natural the natural variations of the hide to show through the finished coat. These are aniline leathers, tanned to ensure a pleasing distressed finish. Extra fat liquors are applied during tannage, to give the leather a waxy feel. The leathers are designed to allow the natural variations of the leather to show through the finished coat. Pull up leathers; do not have a consistent colour density across the whole hide. They are also designed to change colour when pulled or stretched. These types of leathers are not as colour fast as pigmented hides and should be protected from direct sunlight and not placed next to radiators and other heat sources where the wax could dry out. Evidence of marks and scarring will be seen through the surface finish.
To keep your leather looking its best we recommend quickly blotting up any spills or stains with a mildly damp cloth. The leather may benefit from treatment every 6/12 months with a leather maintenance cream.
Matera
To keep your leather looking its best we recommend quickly blotting up any spills or stains with a midly damp cloth. The leather may benefit from treatment every 6/12 months with a leather maintenance cream.
Stallone
To keep your leather looking its best we recommend quickly blotting up any spills or stains with a midly damp cloth. The leather may benefit from treatment every 6/12 months with a leather maintenance cream.
Old English
Old English is an aniline finished leather, tanned to ensure a pleasing distressed or aged finish from new. Extra fat liquors are applied during tanning, to give the leather a slightly waxy feel. These leathers are designed to allow the natural marking variations of the leather to show through to the finish coat. Pull-up leathers do not have a consistent colour density across the whole hide. They are designed to change colour and sheen when pulled or stretched. They are not as colour fast as pigmented hides and are designed to allow furniture to age and relax through use and over time. Furniture should be protected from direct sunlight and not placed next to radiators. Evidence of marks and scarring will be seen through the surface finish. Each hide will be unique, and so will the furniture on which it is used.
To keep your leather looking its best we recommend quickly blotting up any spills or stains with a mildly damp cloth. The leather may benefit from treatment every 6/12 months with a leather maintenance cream.
