Differences Among our Leathers
Full Grain Leather
Full grain leather is the most costly cowhide Atalante™ uses. Less than 5% of the best cowhide skins can be used to make this leather. It is stiff because it has undergone a vegetable tanning process, and it shines slightly from a delicate wax coating and hot ironing. The surface is somewhat fragile like the best aniline dyed leathers; this lets you see the actual natural skin, and develops a patina with use. Atalante™ likes to explain this as beautifully burnished with your own personality.
Top Grain Leather
Top grain leather is genuine leather that has a coating to help it resist scratches. It is somewhat thinner than full grain and more pliable. It is less expensive than full grain, although it tries to imitate the same look. It is resistant to water, and has a medium-low shine.
Bonded Leather
Bonded leather is not "genuine leather" per U.S.A. regulations. It consists of ground up leather fibers mixed with adhesives and finished as sheets of various thicknesses topped with the same coatings used on genuine leather. It is the least expensive of our leathers and won't last as long as genuine leather. Atalante™ uses only urethane top coatings on its bonded leathers, for both strength and water repellency.