Material Guide: Everything you need to know about leather, nubuck, suede, and shearling sheepskin.

Full Grain Leather

This is the most noble treatment that preserves the grain of the leather in its original form. The finest garments are made from full grain leather, including the following finishes:

Dipped Leather

Lamb's skin is colored by immersion but is not protected. Only the very beautiful skins undergo this treatment. They are supple, very soft, but also more fragile until the skins are patinated. These are the finest but also the most expensive leathers. Some flaws may remain visible as the tinting is done by immersion and not on the surface.

Nappa / Veiled Leather

A protective surface treatment is applied to the skins of lambs, goats, or calves. Nappa leather is supple and resistant to the sun and weather. It is drier than dipped leather but more affordable.

Waxy Leather

This is a compromise between dipped leather and veiled leather. That is to say, the lamb's skin is dyed half by immersion, half on the surface. It gives an appearance close to dipped leather even if these finishes are less natural.

Grained Leather

Lamb's skin undergoes a treatment that brings out the grain of the skin.

Aged Leather

Lamb's, calf's, or cow's skin is pigmented (dyed) and shaded on the surface to give a "patinated" or "vintage" aspect to the leather.

Washed Leather

This treatment is mainly used on lamb; the skins are dipped in chemical solutions that significantly shrink the leather and give it a slightly faded and wrinkled appearance.

The Nubuck

This is a special treatment of lamb, calf skins which are sanded and unfinished. This treatment gives often less fragile and more patinated-looking leather garments. There are different nubuck finishes:

The skepper leather

The lamb, buffalo or cowhide skin is dyed with wax. The finish gives a two-tone marbled appearance. Our advice: avoid skipper buffalo which often fades.

Oiled leather

The cowhide or sheepskin is dyed with oil.

Simple nubuck leather

Soft and silky to the touch, it is very beautiful in lamb. More refined but more delicate than the previous ones.

Leather Split

The raw material comes from the reprocessing of thick leathers. The skin is sanded and reworked to give it a velvety appearance. This leather finish provides lower-priced and lower-range garments.

Velvety Leather or Suede

Goat, pig, or lamb skins are processed on the reverse side (flesh side) and sanded to give them a velvety appearance. The raw material is of better quality than that of split leather. Goat or lamb are most commonly used in the luxury range.

Shearling Sheepskin or Lambskin

The sheep's wool is kept inside the garment, it is the "full skin", not sheared. It is either shaved or left natural. The exterior is first sanded to give a velvety appearance, then it can be nappa-finished to have a leather look. We speak of velvety sheepskin or oiled sheepskin.

Merino Lambskin

It provides more high-end sheepskin, its fur is very dense and very silky. It is very warm while being very light to wear. It is the most expensive.

Toscana Lambskin or Sheepskin

It is a variant of lamb with very long hair that gives the garment a "fur" style. It is widely used for women. Often the hair is cut short on the inside to avoid thickening the silhouette and it is left naturally long on the outside parts.

Other breeds of sheep give sheepskin garments, heavier, stiffer and with non-silky fur.

A shearling goods, cannot be cared for like any other garment. Find all our advice on how to care for your skin

To preserve its beauty and softness over time, we recommend that you carefully follow these maintenance tips:

1. Air regularly: After each use, hang your real fur item in a well-ventilated area to allow the fur to breathe. Avoid storing it in a confined area such as a plastic bag, as this could alter its quality.
2. Avoid direct exposure to sunlight and heat: Natural fur is delicate and can be damaged by prolonged exposure to sunlight or heat sources such as radiators. Avoid leaving your fur garment in a car exposed to direct sunlight.
3. Avoid contact with water and excessive humidity: Natural fur can lose its shape and softness if wet. In the event of light rain, gently shake the item to remove any drops of water and leave it to dry in the open air, away from any source of heat. For light stains, use a soft, dry cloth to dab gently.
4. Brush regularly: Use a special fur brush to remove small dust particles and keep the fur soft and silky. Brush in the natural direction of the bristles to avoid breaking them.

Entrust maintenance to a professional: For deep cleaning and regular maintenance, we recommend that you entrust your fur item to a professional fur cleaner.

Size guides are available on every product page on the site, but we recommend that you rely on our size advice in the description of each product. If you really have any doubts, don't hesitate to write us at info@elitesheepskin.com