Faux Leather Jacket Deals

When it comes to the question of winter clothing, leather jackets are still the rage! Nothing compares to the warmth a leather jacket gives you on a cold winter night. At the same time, it lends a chic sense of style to your wardrobe like nothing else can, or at least, almost nothing else. The only thing that comes close to the look and feel of an original leather jacket is a faux leather jacket. Leather that is not obtained from animals but is artificially prepared is essentially called faux leather.

It can be made from various other materials like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) etc, and then go through intense and numerous chemical treatments to resemble the look and certain characteristics of original leather. Some kinds of faux leather can also be made from polyester or cotton, after being chemically treated. And though they look very similar, faux leather can never duplicate the feel of original leather.

However in the recent times, faux leather clothing like faux leather jackets, gloves, skirts, handbags etc have become increasingly common. Primarily faux leather is a lot cheaper than original leather and many others might want to avoid leather purely due to ethical reasons. With the strong resistance put forward by animal support groups like PETA, faux leather is becoming more and more popular. To top it off, fake leather, often marketed under various other names such as leatherette, naugahyde, pleather etc, is way easier to clean and maintain than original leather, thus influencing people’s inclination towards it. Added to that faux leather is also lighter.

However, you need to be able to tell fake leather from its original counterpart, when you come across one. Here are five ways you can tell if you just bought a faux leather jacket or an original one.

1. Smell the fabric. Leather has a very distinctive ‘leather’ smell, which you can tell the moment you take a whiff of the product. If the smell is not the same, or not as strong, it most certainly is faux leather.

2. Study the pores on the surface of the leather. If it is a faux leather the pores on the surface will be consistent and in a regular, repetitive pattern. But since real leather is obtained from the hides of animals, pores on the surface will be far more irregular and scattered.

3. Examine the edges of the fabric carefully. Where the fabric has been cut, original leather will maintain a look and feel to it that is rough around its edges. A faux leather jacket will feel more smooth, more like foam or plastic as compared to a real leather one. .

4. Feel the fabric. Real leather obviously feels different from fake leather. Real leather may range from course to silky smooth, depending upon its type and quality. But since real leather cannot be regulated it feels more supple and inconsistent as compared to fake leather.

5. Test it with your pet’s hair. Animal hair sticks to anything that’s man-made. So if it’s a faux leather jacket your pet’s hair will stick on to the surface, but if it’s real leather you can simply blow it off the surface.