Pros and Cons of Faux Leather

By | May 10, 2016

Mens belts

Leather can be a fun and exciting addition to anyone’s wardrobe whether it’s in small quantities like leather belts or womens leather bracelets or a full on dress or jacket that is made purely out of leather. Whatever you choose to rock is a great idea. However, you have to be confident to wear leather. Confidence is key no matter what you are wearing, but particularly when trying to pull off a leather outfit. Now, leather is great, yes; it’s durable, it’s strong, it’s sexy. But, it’s expensive. So, how can you be strong and sexy without cutting off an arm and a leg to pay for your awesome outfit? That’s where faux leather comes in. Let’s take a look at genuine leather and faux leather and see if anyone is really going to tell the difference in your entire outfit much less in womens leather bracelets.

What is Faux Leather?
First of all, you need to understand what faux leather actually is. It is an artificial or fake leather. It can be used for anything that regular leather can be used for such as clothing, accessories like womens leather bracelets, furniture like couches and chairs, cars, upholstery and consumer goods. The great thing about faux leather is that it does not come from an animal. Genuine leather comes from the hide of animals but faux leather is made from various different kinds of material but mainly viscose or polyester. Let’s look at the pros and cons of faux leather compared to real leather material.

Pros

  1. Polyurethane, which is what a lot of faux leather is made out of, is known to be an environmentally friendly material even though it is synthetic.
  2. As mentioned, no animals are used in the making of faux leather.
  3. Faux leather is a lot more versatile than real leather. It can be made in any kind of color, style and pattern that the consumer wants.
  4. The material is not as durable as real leather but still incredibly strong.
  5. A high gloss finished can make the leather look shiny and fun.
  6. Faux leather is a lot easier to clean than real leather. All you have to do is wipe it down with a damp cloth.
  7. There is not a lot of maintenance required even with faux materials.
  8. It will not fade if left in the sun.
  9. Faux leather is much cheaper than real leather.

Cons

  1. It is not breathable at all so can make you very sweaty when worn in warmer weather.
  2. It doesn’t end up with the same kind of luster as real leather does.
  3. Real leather is made from cows and is a by product of cows that have already been processed for the meat so although PVC is considered environmentally friendly, it’s more wasteful than real leather.
  4. It can easily be torn or punctured or scratched.
  5. Faux leather tends to crack or peel after awhile.
  6. There’s no way to add the hypo allergenic properties that real leather naturally contains.
  7. Although the material is cheaper, it does not last nearly as long as real leather.

As you can see, there are pros and cons to faux leather, just like there is with everything. It really comes down to the price compared to the lasting qualities of each. While you may be able to keep a real leather totes or womens leather bracelets for many years, are you even going to want to keep using them for that entire time? Sometimes, buying faux leather can be more beneficial because it will last the amount of time that you want to use the item fore before you get bored of it anyway. However, if you don’t want to use the leather item anymore, if it is real leather, you could sell it for a decent price and possibly make your money back from it. Faux leather doesn’t resell very well.

You can weigh up the pros and cons and decide which will work better for you. It can also depend on the item. Like mentioned, you may need accessories and clothes for many, many years but getting faux leather car seats installed would probably be a mistake as they will wear out very quickly. In these situation you would definitely want to invest in real leather to make sure that they last as long as possible.