Leather Composition

Understanding Leather Composition Codes!
Your leather upholstery is often a constructed of two or more materials embossed and dyed to look exactly like the same material. The higher quality material is placed on the areas that “touch the body”, such  as the seat, seat back, and inside arms. The lower cost material is placed on the areas that don’t touch the body and are not as visible, such as the outer sides and back of the upholstery. This approach helps reduce the total cost of the unit. ‘CAP Codes’ are used to define what material are used where. The following are the Leather CAP Codes used on our products.
RM RL Renew Leather
Inner Surface: Renew™ Leather
Outer Surface: Polyurethane
Inner Surface: Renew™ Leather
Outer Surface: Renew™ Leather
Renew™ Leather is a composite material constructed of recycled leather scraps with a cellular polyurethane base.
Inner Surface: Top Grain Leather
Outer Surface: Split Leather Pieces
Inner Surface: LB Grade Leather
Outer Surface: Polyurethane/Vinyl
Inner Surface: Top Grain Leather
Outer Surface: Top Grain Leather
More About Renew™: Renew™ is an exciting new concept in upholstery coverings. Created using recycled scrap leather, Renew mimics the look and feel of leather while helping protect the environment. Beauty never looked, and felt, so good. time.
Polyurethane vs Vinyl:  Vinyl and urethane are both synthetic materials, and commonly referred to as plastics. Urethanes are formed by combining urethane-based resins and urethane-based hardeners, which are composed of hydroxyl or amine components. When the resins and hardeners are combined, they form a chemical reaction, which results in a plastic material called a thermoset. Vinyl is a synthetic, man-made material, made from ethylene sourced from crude oil, and chlorine sourced from common salt. The resulting combination of materials forms polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, resin, and what is commonly referred to as plastic.  Urethane has a far wider scope of applications than vinyl. This is because urethane is an actual base chemical and vinyl is a chemical byproduct. For example, polyesters, polyethers, diisoyanates and glycols are urethane-based materials. Urethane is a basic component, and required ingredient to make things such as synthetic fabrics. Because vinyl is a byproduct of a chemical reaction, it can be decomposed. Urethane, on the other hand, cannot be decomposed because it is a basic, raw chemical ingredient.