Thursday, June 4, 2009

Leather is the ultimate garment

An ultimate outfit scoring very high in the international market is none other than exclusive leather outfits. They are a great portrayal of timeless elegance and has carved niche for them in the fashion world. Leather dresses are special and unique in own way and perfect for making style statements. Leather dressings have always been prominent for style, fashion statement and being one with the huge attention from crowd– As time moved on, certain types of leather attire have attained fame for rebellion and freedom call

FAP-GCP-002Leather apparels are very renowned for their great appeal and versatility. One can create various looks in them through their myriad mesmerizing styles, leeway of colors, fabric types; designs, cuts etc. All this has made them hottest fashion apparel in the fashion industry and favorite of all the eras. It is the most sought after items amongst celebrities also. Leather items will never become passé

They are in demand since long times for creating glamorous looks. Quality to remain in demand in all weathers has crowned them with the title of ‘item in demand’. It has made a great stir at times. Its all outfits become trend forever and never go out of style. Trendy and stylish are the best adjectives for defining head turner leather dresses and mean it.

Leather as such is a beautiful fabric and any leather product whether shoes, clothes, or accessories all look very elegant. It is a well-built and a durable fabric as well, it is very important that you take great care of the leather products so that they retain their sheer and elegant appearance

During appreciation of the high-fashion appeal of leather, many stylish garments that match international fashion trends are being increasingly manufactured for women.

Leather clothing is choice of millions as they are having an air of allure, romance and excitement. They evoke such a great fashion appeal that no one can ignore them. Last but not the least leather outfits are perfect to make look remarkable in a fraction of time

Leather dresses encompasses many types of clothing. All are superior and create great looks. The arena of leather clothing is very vast and includes leather jackets, leather bombers, leather coats, leather blazers, leather skirts, leather pants, leather shorts, leather biker jackets, leather halters, leather vests, leather cycle jackets and many other items. They are unbiased with regard to gender and adorn both men and women.

FAP-LFJ-005Leather apparels are season friendly, wearable during whole year; hence look good at all times of the year. In summers leather outfits keep you cool while in winters they protect you from cold. They are a fashion icon but practical also. This uniqueness is what that only that departs leather garments from all other dresses. Durability, flexibility, lasting nature, protective, versatile are some of the features that are absolutely doubtless about them.

Identifications for different Leather

Leather is the dried, toughened, tanned and dyed skin or hide of an animal. Usually available with the hair removed form. These animal skins and hides treated to preserve and make them suitable for use as much as long. By the process of tanning these skins are converts into a stable and non decaying material.

Uses and Benefits of Leather:

Leather is naturally versatile material, warm in winter and cool in summer. There is almost no other natural fabric has the insulation characteristics that allow both ventilation and evaporation to take place. Genuine leather provides the service and durability.

Leather is use to prepare leather apparel and leather garments like leather Jackets, leather coats, leather lingerie, leather pants and Leather undergarments. Leather shoes are also commonly used all over the world. Leather backpack, leather briefcase, leather bags and leather purses also have very important significance in our daily life

In its broadest sense, leather is any type of tanned animal hide. Different types of leather are characterized by both the type of animal skin used and the tanning and manufacturing methods employed. The most common types of leather are made from cow hide, but leather from other animals, such as kangaroos and ostriches, is also popular in certain applications. Different types of leather are suited to different purposes, including clothing, footwear, luggage, book binding, and drums.

A variety of animal skins are used to produce different looks in leather. Once leather is tanned and processed, certain sections are selected for use on a particular application. It will then go through another series of processing and splitting for each application. Leather quality is determined by the actual processes and chemicals used in its production. Respectable manufacturers use high quality in the production of furniture, car upholstery, as well as jackets and clothing. Lower priced leather on the other hand, means lower quality and is less durable in the long run.

An animal hide can be made into leather by a number of different methods, each of which lends different properties to the final product. Leather tanned with vegetable-based products is supple but can be damaged by exposure to water. Alum-tanned leather, created with aluminum salts, is less supple and can rot in water, but it can be made in much lighter shades than vegetable-tanned leather. A newer method of tanning, using chromium salts, results in a very supple leather that holds up relatively well in water. Brain-tanned leather or buckskin, made with animal brains or other emulsified oils, is washable and significantly softer than any of the above varieties, but it is also the rarest, as it is costly and time-consuming to produce.

Stiffer, more durable types of leather, suitable for use in drums, book binding, and, historically, armor, are created with different methods. Rawhide is made by scraping animal hide, treating it with lime, and stretching it throughout the drying process. Boiling in water or wax is another method used to make extremely tough types of leather.

The softer types of leather can be prepared in a few different ways. Full-grain leather, used in the finest leather products, is not altered past removing the hair and tanning the hide. Therefore, it requires raw materials of excellent quality. Top-grain leather is sanded on one side and given an artificial grain in order to hide imperfections in the raw material. The other side of this type of leather is fuzzy. Suede is fuzzy on both sides, as it is cut from the inside of an animal hide.

Other types of leather include patent leather, which has a very shiny, smooth finish, often coated with plastic; and shagreen, rough leather usually colored green. Many special types of leather are used in luxury products from gloves to pocketbooks. Belting leather is heavy and durable and can retain its shape exceptionally well. Napa leather is known for its softness, as is slunk, made from the hide of a calf fetus. Vachetta leather is typically used as a trim on handbags.

How to identify Leather defects ?

Leather is an incredibly wonderful natural fabric that's been used for thousands of years. No man made material has been able to surpass the natural beauty and toughness of leather but there are defects which may be caused during the life or after death of an animal.

Imperfections in the grain surface or structure of a hide or skin resulting in unsightly appearance and/ or weakness of the resultant leather. Such defects may have arisen during the life of the animal, or may have developed in the flaying and/or preparation of the stock. Defects exist on natural leather surfaces and they usually cannot be eliminated during processing. No international criterion specifies the compensatory counting for calf leather surface defects. So complicated negotiation causes additional cost and argument between suppliers and purchasers

Defects caused to hides during the life of an animal

Defects caused during life include:

1) Scars, resulting from scratches or cuts. (When the cut is healing, the fibers grow densely packed together, and the healed skin is often hard, raised, and lacking hair follicles. Scar damage is also caused by branding the animal for ownership purposes, usually in the butt area, which is the best part of the hide)

2) Infestations, such as ticks, warble flies, and mange. (Ticks pierce the skin to suck blood, leaving holes that look either like pin pricks or minor scars in the grain of the leather. This defect occurs mainly in the belly areas of the skin. Sarcoptic mange mites enter the epidermis and tunnel around, causing the cells to multiply and the hair to fall out. The grain surface becomes roughened, and the animal generally compounds the damage by rubbing to relieve the itching. In demodectic, or follicular, mange, the mites penetrate into the dermis itself, where a wall of fibers is formed to surround and "encyst" them. The cysts generally are seen on the grain of unhaired skins as small swollen nodules. Tanning and drying processes shrink the contents of the cysts, causing the grain surface to sink over the cavity so that the defects are seen as shallow depressions, though the grain surface itself is not generally damaged;

3) Infections. (If ringworm, which is a fungus, heals it leaves no scars, but if the animal is slaughtered while still infected, the grain appears coarse at the site of the infection);

4) cockle, which occurs in wooled sheep immediately before shearing. (This defect appears as boil-like hard spots, of varying size, which occur in rows at right angles to the spine from the shoulder to the butt, and, while the defect disappears rapidly after shearing, it cannot be eliminated during manufacture of the leather.)

Defects caused after the death of an animal

Damages caused after death include:

1) flay cuts and gouges, which cut into the fibers of the dermis. (In thin leathers they show through and thereby spoil the grain. Some flay cuts go completely through the hide or skin, ruining it completely. These kinds of cuts are usually the result of careless or improper flaying);

2) putrefaction, which is the result of bacterial growth which starts almost immediately once the animal is dead, unless the skin is properly cured, especially on the exposed flesh side. : PUTREFACTIVE DAMAGE;

3) vainness, in which branching lines of blood vessels can be seen on the flesh side. (If, because of poor curing or old age, for example, the structure around them becomes loose, the skin is said to be veiny, and the branching pattern of the veins usually shows through on the grain side. Veininess can actually at times be attractive in some skins, such as VELLUM.

4) damage from heat, which may occur on hides and skins in tropical areas. (It is a common fault with ground-dried skins. Sun Damage that occurs to a hide or skin when it becomes heated above a certain critical temperature while it is still moist and is laid out in the sun to dry (cure). A completely dry skin can become very hot and still not be affected under normal conditions of cure, but prior to this a skin is very susceptible to damage. Also, the drying of a salted skin proceeds so uniformly throughout its entire thickness that the cooling effect produced by evaporation off its surfaces maintains the temperature of the entire skin below the danger point until it is uniformly dry. Without salt, however, a skin tends to dry unevenly when laid out in the usual manner, which is flesh side up. This can happen because the flesh side can dry out completely and begin generating heat, while the underside remains moist, and, being shielded from evaporation, also begins to generate heat. This is especially the case when pieces of flesh, generally of a fatty nature, are present on the flesh side, and further retard the drying of areas beneath them.

Fashionable waistcoats made up of leather

A waistcoat (sometimes called a vest or a vestee in Canada and the US) is a sleeveless upper-body garment worn over a dress shirt and necktie (if applicable) and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear, and as the third piece of the three-piece male business suit. Once a virtually mandatory article of men's clothing, it has become uncommon in fashionable dress in the English-speaking world, although it has returned to fashion as part of business wear in Germany.

Waistcoats have now become a popular article of clothing amongst the youth of Britain as style symbol Kate Moss and the members of indie band Razor light wear them over casual shirts and jeans for a day-to-day fashionable look. The waistcoat is one of the few pieces of clothing whose origin historians can date precisely. King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland introduced the waistcoat as a part of correct dress during the Restoration of the British dominion.

A waistcoat has a full vertical opening in the front which fastens with buttons or snaps. Both single-breasted and double-breasted waistcoats exist, regardless of the formality of dress, but single-breasted ones are more common. In a three piece suit, the cloth used matches the jacket and trousers.

Before wristwatches became popular, gentlemen kept their pocket watches in the front waistcoat pocket, with the watch on a watch chain threaded through a buttonhole. Sometimes an extra hole was made in line with the buttonholes for this use. A bar on the end of the chain held the chain in place to catch it if it were dropped or pulled.

FPV-008Leather Waistcoats are made of the best quality leather and match the latest styles prevalent in the market. They come in various cuts and designs and are made using premium quality leather that add to their quality. The contemporary designs in waistcoats make them a hit among the fashion conscious men, women and kids of today. These are available in leather varieties such as nubuck, goat suede, cow nappa etc. Inner lining of Leather Waist coats can be of suede, taffeta or velvet. Individual color printed box and logos can also embossed on it, on demand. Crafted out of leathers, which have sensuous texture and are of good material, leather waist coats are available in foreign designs and cuts in colors such as lime, black, brown and the bright shades of red, yellow blue etc leather waistcoats are available in different shapes, styles, and sizes.

Fashionable Leather Accessories for Women’s

Leather is often measured a fashion item that only a few are able to afford. Providing all-weather resistance and uncommon durability, leather products have a reputation for comfort, style and long-lasting quality. Leather products take almost everything you throw at it and simply get better with age. Leather doesn't get worn out. Leather gets personality, uniqueness and one-of-a-kind character that fits the owner. Leather garments are fashion of the day. Young people prefer to wear leather stylish jackets, apparel and clothing. The quality of leather varies from one to the other and it is possible to find out such clothing in cheap as well as costly. However, leather clothing is not only for men but there are great varieties of leather clothing for women.

An incredible range of leather clothing including pants, shorts, skirts, jackets, tight leather miniskirts, and various other fashion accessories have flooded the market to meet the ever-increasing demand of this versatile medium.

Woman’s fashion Leathers includes

Leather Jackets

Leather Overcoats

Leather Coats

Leather Pants

Leather Waistcoats

Leather Gloves

Fashionable Leather jackets

FAP-LLJ-014The leather jackets which women used to wear to look attractive and beautiful are called fashionable leather jackets.

It’s time for you to make a strong fashion statement with leather jackets that can suit your style. New Leather fashion has emerged with great vitality especially among the teens.

Leather overcoats

Leather overcoats are made from a variety of leather. The structure of its fibers are such that it is wind-resistant and does not easily wrinkle, which makes it a great choice for travel or extended wear. Leather overcoats are available in various finishes and colors that widen the range of overcoats to choose.

Leather coats

While leather coats are a symbol of machismo and manliness, the leather coats are also widely worn by women. Therefore, the leather coats have simply become a statement of attitude and personality in today's unisex fashion world. Leather coats never goes out of fashion today’s it also comes in various color and design at olden day only black leather coat is available.

Leather skirts

Leather is one of those items that never goes out of style for the ladies. This season, leather skirts come in new colors, shapes, and sizes; so whatever your shape or size, there's one made for your look.

A leather skirt or dress is not an accessory; it becomes the fashion all by itself. The skirt combined with any blouse will effectively attract only toward the skirt. Woman in the office will not only say something to you about how good it looks but may very well whisper something behind your back.

Leather pants

FLP_014Leather pants are tremendously trendy, especially with today's hot fad of the skinny pants. One trend that seems to never go out of type is women's leather pants. Get all of those misconceptions out of your mind and embrace the deliciousness that is quality grain leather. Leather pants can be worn in the summer and also during the daytime. However, by pairing your leather pants with a slim fitting leather blazer, you can create a spectacular look that is perfectly appropriate for wearing in a professional workplace setting. Be sure to offset your leather pants and blazer with a cotton or silk blouse. For an especially smart look, pair a crisp shirt with the leather outfit.

Leather waistcoats

Leather Waistcoats are made of the best quality leather and match the latest styles prevalent in the market. They come in various cuts and designs and are made using premium quality leather that add to their quality. The contemporary designs in waistcoats make them a hit among the fashion conscious women and kids of today. These are available in leather varieties such as nubuck, goat suede, cow nappa etc

Leather gloves

FAP-F-HA-023Leather gloves for women are available in various materials like lace, cotton and satin, it is the leather gloves that are an all time favorite with women all over the world. It is so because the ladies leather gloves are what that add oodles of charm and style to the personality of any woman and make her look more irresistible. In fact as it adds greatly to her sex appeal and charisma, woman always try to get the most recent gloves for themselves. The ladies leather gloves are also very famous owing to the fact that they are very sophisticated and tender in their appearance. Thus, they make very good accessories to won on formal occasions like various business events.

Different Types of Tanning for Leather Preparation

Leather is made from animal skins or hides which have been chemically treated to preserve quality and natural beauty. The chemical procedure used to ready raw animal hides for use is called "tanning."Tanning is the process of making leather, which does not easily decompose, from the skins of animals, which do. Often this uses tannin, an acidic chemical compound. Coloring may occur during tanning

VEGETABLE TANNING

Hides which have been tanned with a vegetable tanning agent solution produce flexible, but stiff leathers, such as those used in luggage, furniture, leashes, belts, hats, and harnesses.

Vegetable tanning consists of stringing hides on large frames, located inside large vats, and exposing them to tannin, a natural product found in the bark, wood, leaves and fruits of chestnut, oak and hemlock trees. Hides are transferred to many different bins during this step, each containing a stronger solution of tannin. Vegetable tanning prevents the skin from decay and shrinkage.

MINERAL TANNING

Mineral or chrome tanning is performed on skins which will be used for softer, stretchier leathers, such as those found in purses, bags, briefcases, shoes, gloves, boots, jackets, pants, and sandals.

Hides which are tanned with minerals are pickled first in an acid and salt mixture. From there, hides are soaked into a chromium-sulfate solution. This process is much faster than vegetable tanning, and is usually a 1-day project. . It is also known as wet-blue for its color derived from the chromium. More esoteric colors are possible using chrome tanning.

Aldehyde-tanned leather is tanned using glutaraldehyde or oxazolidine compounds. This is the leather that most tanners refer to as wet-white leather due to its pale cream or white color. It is the main type of "chrome-free" leather, often seen in shoes for infants, and automobiles. Formaldehyde tanning (being phased out due to its danger to workers and the sensitivity of many people to formaldehyde) is another method of aldehyde tanning. Brain-tanned leathers fall into this category and are exceptionally water absorbent. Brain tanned leathers are made by a labor-intensive process which uses emulsified oils, often those of animal brains. They are known for their exceptional softness and their ability to be washed. Chamois leather also falls into the category of aldehyde tanning and like brain tanning produces a highly water absorbent leather. Chamois leather is made by using oils (traditionally cod oil) that oxidize easily to produce the aldehydes that tan the leather to make the fabric the color it is

Synthetic-tanned leather is tanned using aromatic polymers such as the Novolac or Neradol types. This leather is white in color and was invented when vegetable tannins were in short supply, i.e. during the Second World War. Melamine and other amino-functional resins fall into this category as well and they provide the filling that modern leathers often require. Urea-formaldehyde resins were also used in this tanning method until dissatisfaction about the formation of free formaldehyde was realized.

Alum-tanned leather is tanned using aluminium salts mixed with a variety of binders and protein sources, such as flour, egg yolk, etc. Purists argue that alum-tanned leather is technically "tawed" and not tanned, as the resulting material will rot in water. Very light shades of leather are possible using this process, but the resulting material is not as supple as vegetable-tanned leather

Oil tanning

The familiar wash leather (chamois or ‘chammy’)is tanned with unsaturated oil and the preferred agent is cod lever oil. Useful tanning oils contain fatty acids,either free or as glyceride derivates, which are poly unsaturated. The degree of unsaturation is critical, because if there is too little unsaturation the oil will not oxidize readily and therefore function only as lubricant, if there is too much unsaturation the oil will crosslink itself and harden with oxidation,like linseed oil.