Quality control

To ensure a consistency in the quality of all deliveries we have incorporated an internal and external quality control.

All hides that arrive at our stock are controlled thoroughly regarding thickness, colour, selection, colour fastness to rubbing and finish adhesion.

The external quality control is carried out by recognised European institutes who frequently test if our leather meets the European Standards for upholstery leather. Among others they test for colour fastness to light, colour fastness to rubbing, finish adhesion, tearing load and flexing endurance.

Colour fastness to light is measured on the international blue scale; results ranging from 1-8, higher numbers indicating better resistance to light. Aniline should stand up to 3 , semi-aniline is between 4-5 and pigmented should be between 5 and 6 to be approved.

Colour fastness to rubbing, tests the resistance to wear of colours. This test is performed with a 15 x15mm. piece of felt. The felt square is rubbed against the leather in both wet, dry and perspiration conditions. The colour rubbed off is compared to the international grey scale. The test is measured on a scale from 1-5, 5 being the best result.

Finish adhesion is a test carried out to find out how well the surface colour sticks to the leather. Finish adhesion is only tested on semi-aniline and pigmented leather, as aniline has no finish on the surface. The test is measured in Newton per centimeter (N/cm). The higher value, the better finish adhesion.

Tearing load is an expression of tearing strength. The tearing power is measured at least 5 times during the test and is measured in Newton per mm. of leather thickness.

Flexing endurance measure the ability of the leather to bend through a considerable angle more or less easily without damage (up to 50,000 cracks).