The fashion world uses a huge amount of leather crafts and accessories that appear durable and alluring, irrespective of the leather type. And they range from natural to synthetic leather. The number of leather alternatives is steeply on the rise within the market, and a noteworthy mention is microfiber leather.
Hence, it would be best to learn more about this latest innovation. So, what is microfiber leather? Microfiber leather comes as a close mimic of real leather, substituting skin fibers for microfibers.
This material is a non-woven fabric coated with top-performance polyurethane (PU) resins. Is microfiber leather eco-friendly? Is microfiber leather waterproof? Kindly read this article to get all the answers and interesting details about this synthetic leather material.
What Is Microfiber Leather
The growing association with synthetic fabrics and motions against inhumane treatment of animals keep offering various leather alternatives, including microfiber leather. Microfiber leather remains one of the commonest types of synthetic leather considered for manufacturing high-quality leather items within the fashion industry.
If you want to pick out fake leather items from their smell and feel, you should know that microfiber leather emerges as a different option. Even though this material is synthetic, its superior quality makes crafts feel and appear like real leather material. To make it stand out and a rapid popular, it is also eco-friendly.
Is microfiber leather durable?
The answer to this relies on how well you care for your leathercraft—conducting proper cleaning and excellent maintenance routines. With strength tuning up like genuine leather, you would find microfiber leather pieces with bewitching durability and long-lasting.
The good news is that this option outperforms genuine leather in some stances like aging and abrasion resistance and anti-creasing.
Unlike some traditional synthetics, microfiber leather has increased strength like real leather, emerging more than mere sheets coated with polyurethane. Another plus is that this leather piece rarely ages, and there are often no issues with peelings.
What is microfiber leather made of?
This “vegan” leather type is not real leather and does not come from animal hide. Instead, it is manufactured with a covering of high-performing PU resin above a base of extremely fine fibers.
Thanks to its features and the rising consciousness to protect animal lives, there is an increasing demand for this excellent material. Hence, you can find various applications of Microfiber leather such as:
- Shoemaking
- Luggage and bag construction
- Garment crafting
- Car interiors, including car seats
- Inner packaging leather
- Shoes, laces, belts, straps, and other accessories
- Microfiber leather furniture
Identifying Microfiber Leather
With the similarities that microfiber leather shares with genuine leather, it may appear pretty challenging for people to differentiate between microfiber vs. genuine leather easily. Not to worry, you can use these hints below to distinguish microfiber leather from other options available in the market.
Look Through the Surface Grains
The surface grains of this high-quality synthetic leather emerge clearer, with its surface materializing like genuine leather. With the good feel of such material, you would easily notice its elasticity and comfort features.
However, you can find microfiber leather with poor quality having rough texture, accompanied by its strong plastic feel. Nevertheless, the pores of genuine leather would often be more visible, unlike the synthetic microfiber leather that doesn’t have pores.
Look out for Creases
If you are keen on investing in high-quality microfiber leather, you should conduct the “crease” test. Kindly fold this material and watch how fast the creases varnish and recover. The faster the creases disappear, an excellent indicator of a good quality microfiber leather.
Scan the Scratches
While scrapping the surface of microfiber leather, you should not notice visible marks if it is top-quality microfiber leather resistant to abrasion, unlike other fake leather options.
Nevertheless, this leather type would be less ventilating and comfortable than full-grain leather.
Smell
By now, you should know that genuine leather made from animal skin has a peculiar smell resulting from its treatment with formaldehyde and other subjected treatments. Microfiber leather comes with less smell, except for the strong plastic smell of low-end options.
Cost
When it comes to the cost of leather pieces, you would often find that genuine leather comes at higher prices. But, you would also find top microfiber leather with high-end applications still appearing costly.
Microfiber Leather Manufacturing Process
Microfiber has several attractive features, increasing its acceptability across the fashion arena. For its breathability, moisture absorption, and hand feeling, this top-class synthetic leather material might be mistaken as “real” by some folks.
Thus, it would interest you to know the process involved in manufacturing this innovative material. The first step is wetting the base fabric with some portion of water. Afterward, the piece gets coated with polyurethane and goes through sinking for further treatments before letting it dry.
FAQs
Q: Is microfiber leather any good?
Microfiber leather remains one of the top options why most persons seek synthetic leather offering attractive features. This leather material can keep its form, and it emerges durable compared to other alternatives.
Like real leather, it is resistant to moisture – hence, they come in handy for crafting various items for outdoor applications. Since this vegan leather is lightweight, abrasion-resistant, chemical resistant, and ages lesser, it can be an excellent option for making various leather crafts.
Q: Is microfiber leather better than real leather?
Microfiber leather with superior quality looks good and imitates the appearance of genuine leather. However, you can find such leather material abrasion-resistant, anti-aging, and anti-crease that challenge real leather.
On top of all mentioned, this synthetic leather is breathable and comfortable to put on.
Q: How long will microfiber leather last?
How long your leather piece lasts depends on the level of care and maintenance you offer. Microfiber leather pieces are pretty durable and duly serve their purpose for a long time, with no cracks or peels on their surface.
Q: Does microfiber leather crack?
Well-polished microfiber leather would rarely crack, and you can expect such leather craft to remain in good shape if properly stitched and prepared with the right thickness. But, this also depends on how you care for the microfiber item. Kindly ensure you keep such items away from excess heat and clean properly.
Q: Is microfiber leather genuine leather?
Microfiber leather is not genuine leather, as this vegan and synthetic leather type emerge from the coating of non-woven fabric with superior performance PU resins. Its performance looks like real leather, but it lacks pores and that unique smell is often associated with genuine leather.
Nevertheless, it is an excellent option with an excellent base and a comfortable feel. Please know that microfiber leather is employed for manufacturing shoes, bags, jackets, leather upholstered items, and more.
Q: Is microfiber leather breathable?
One nice physical feature of microfiber leather is its breathability and comfortable feel. Thus, it works well for making clothing and shoe items and various accessories.
Other peculiar features of this leather type include its anti-hydrolysis, moisture resistant, anti UV, stain-resistant, and abrasion resistant qualities.
Q: Is microfiber furniture durable?
You would often find that upholstered items made from microfiber leather are long-lasting and durable. If well cared for, you can use top-quality microfiber furniture for over 25 years, expecting it to hold up well to the day-to-day use even for folks with kids and pets.
Q: Is microfiber better than polyurethane?
Although both microfiber and PU leather have surfaces coated with polyurethane resins, you would find them outperforming PU leather. Please note that Microfiber leather has greater colorfastness and resistance to alkali, acid, abrasion, and hydrolysis than regular PU leather.
Q: How can one identify a microfiber couch?
Since microfiber is an artificial alternative to genuine leather, you can find a couch made from such material looking almost like suede. This material is manufactured from polyester and has very thin fibers. Microfiber sofas are easy to clean and emerge wrinkle-free adding to the aesthetics of your apartment.
Final Words
There are multiple options of leather materials, and the increasing demand for leather alternatives gives off various types of synthetic leather. One of the commonest choices is microfiber leather and so reasonable curiosity is what microfiber leather is? Microfiber leather is a material with morphological and conventional properties close to genuine leather.
Is microfiber leather vegan? It would interest you that this is synthetic and not grafted from the skin of animals. As a leather enthusiast, this piece on the properties of microfiber leather will be a fun read for you.
