This comparison comes up constantly, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a marketing pitch in either direction. Genuine leather and faux leather are genuinely different materials with different properties, different lifespans, and different use cases. Neither is universally better — but for most people buying leather clothing with the intention of wearing it for years, the differences matter a great deal.
Here's an honest comparison of both materials across the factors that actually affect your purchase decision.
What Genuine Leather Is
Genuine leather is made from animal hide — most commonly cowhide, but also lambskin, pigskin, and others. The hide is tanned to preserve it and make it suitable for use as a material. The result is a natural material with a complex structure — fibres running in multiple directions, a natural grain on the surface, and properties that no synthetic material fully replicates.
Within genuine leather, there are significant quality differences. Full-grain leather retains the natural surface of the hide and is the most durable grade. Top-grain leather has been sanded for a more uniform surface. Split leather comes from the lower layers of the hide and is thinner and less durable. When buying leather clothing, the grade matters as much as the fact that it's genuine leather.
What Faux Leather Is
Faux leather — also called vegan leather, synthetic leather, PU leather, or pleather — is a synthetic material designed to look and feel like leather. The most common types are polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), both applied to a fabric backing to create a material that mimics the appearance of leather.
More recently, faux leather has been made from plant-based materials — pineapple fibres (Piñatex), apple waste, mushroom mycelium, and others. These materials are marketed as sustainable alternatives to both conventional leather and petroleum-based synthetics. They are still synthetic in the sense that they require significant processing and do not have the same properties as genuine leather.
Bonded leather is a separate category worth mentioning: it's made from leather scraps and fibres bonded together with adhesive and coated with polyurethane. It contains some genuine leather content but behaves more like faux leather in terms of durability and aging. It's often marketed as leather without being clear about its composition.
Durability: A Clear Difference
This is where the gap between genuine leather and faux leather is most significant, and most relevant to a clothing purchase.
Quality genuine leather — full-grain or top-grain cowhide — is exceptionally durable. A well-made leather jacket or pair of leather pants from genuine cowhide, properly cared for, will last twenty years or more. The material doesn't degrade in the way synthetics do. It softens with wear, develops a patina, and becomes more characterful over time.
Faux leather has a significantly shorter lifespan. The polyurethane coating that gives it its leather-like surface is prone to cracking, peeling, and flaking over time — typically within two to five years of regular use, sometimes sooner. Once the surface starts to peel, the garment is effectively unwearable. There is no repair for peeling faux leather; it's a terminal condition.
This durability gap is the single most important factor for anyone buying leather clothing as an investment rather than a disposable fashion item. A genuine leather jacket that costs three times as much as a faux leather jacket but lasts ten times as long is not more expensive — it's considerably cheaper over its lifespan.
Feel and Appearance
Genuine leather has a feel that faux leather doesn't replicate. It's warm to the touch, has a natural variation in texture and tone, and has a weight and substance that synthetics lack. The surface of genuine leather responds to touch differently from faux leather — it's less uniform, more alive.
Faux leather is more consistent in appearance — the surface is uniform in a way that genuine leather isn't. For some applications, this consistency is an advantage. For clothing, it tends to look less natural and more obviously synthetic, particularly in close inspection or in photographs.
High-quality faux leather has improved significantly in recent years and can be difficult to distinguish from genuine leather at a distance. Up close, the differences in texture, weight, and surface variation are usually apparent to anyone who has handled both materials.
How They Age
Genuine leather ages in a way that most people find attractive. It develops a patina — a natural darkening and deepening of the surface that reflects the history of the garment. Areas that receive more contact develop a slightly different sheen. Over years of wear, a genuine leather jacket becomes genuinely unique.
Faux leather doesn't develop a patina. It either maintains its original appearance (for a while) or it degrades — cracking, peeling, fading. There is no middle ground of graceful aging. The material either looks new or it looks worn out.
This aging difference is one of the most compelling arguments for genuine leather for anyone who intends to wear a garment for years. The genuine leather jacket you buy today will look better in ten years than it does now. The faux leather jacket will look worse — possibly much worse.
Stretch and Fit
Faux leather typically has more stretch than genuine leather, particularly PU-based materials. This makes standard sizing more forgiving — a faux leather garment in your size is more likely to fit acceptably than a genuine leather garment in the same size, because the material can accommodate a wider range of body shapes.
This is actually an argument for made-to-measure when buying genuine leather. Because genuine leather has very little stretch, fit has to be correct from the start. A genuine leather jacket or pair of leather pants cut to your actual measurements will fit correctly in a way that standard-sized genuine leather often doesn't. For a full explanation of how the made-to-measure process works, see our guide on what made-to-measure leather clothing means.
Environmental Considerations
This is a genuinely complex area, and anyone who tells you the answer is simple is oversimplifying.
Conventional leather production has significant environmental impacts — land use for cattle, water use in tanning, chemical use in processing. These are real concerns.
Faux leather made from PU or PVC is petroleum-based and not biodegradable. It also has environmental impacts in production and, critically, at end of life — synthetic materials that peel and degrade end up in landfill, often within a few years of purchase.
Plant-based faux leathers are a more recent development and have different environmental profiles, though they still require significant processing and don't yet match genuine leather in durability.
The durability argument is relevant here too. A genuine leather garment that lasts twenty years has a much lower environmental impact per year of use than a faux leather garment that lasts three years and ends up in landfill. Longevity is one of the most important environmental factors in clothing, and genuine leather wins on longevity.
Price
Genuine leather clothing costs more than faux leather clothing at the same apparent quality level. This is simply the economics of the material — genuine leather hides cost more than synthetic materials, and the construction of quality leather garments requires more skill and time.
The price difference is real but needs to be considered in the context of lifespan. A faux leather jacket at £150 that lasts three years costs £50 per year. A genuine leather jacket at £450 that lasts twenty years costs £22.50 per year. The genuine leather jacket is cheaper over its lifespan by a significant margin.
This calculation only works if the genuine leather garment is actually well-made and properly cared for. A poorly made genuine leather garment won't last twenty years. Quality of construction matters as much as the material itself.
When Faux Leather Makes Sense
There are legitimate reasons to choose faux leather. If you're buying a garment for a specific event or short-term use and don't intend to wear it for years, the lower price of faux leather makes sense. If you have ethical objections to animal products, faux leather is the alternative. If you're buying for a child who will outgrow the garment quickly, faux leather is practical.
For fashion pieces that follow trends and will be replaced in a season or two regardless of condition, faux leather is a reasonable choice. The durability argument doesn't apply if you're not planning to keep the garment.
When Genuine Leather Is the Right Choice
For any garment you intend to wear regularly and keep for years — a leather jacket, a pair of leather pants, a leather kilt — genuine leather is the right material. The durability, the aging, the feel, and the long-term value all favour genuine leather for serious purchases.
For garments where fit matters — and fit always matters more with genuine leather because of its lack of stretch — made-to-measure genuine leather is the most reliable approach. For a complete overview of all the garment types available and how the ordering process works, see our custom leather clothing complete guide.
Care and Longevity
A well-made genuine leather garment, properly cared for, will last twenty years or more. For a complete care routine covering conditioning, cleaning, and storage, see our leather care and maintenance guide.
At Attileo Leather
Every garment we make is genuine cowhide leather — not faux leather, not bonded leather, not leather-look synthetic. We use real leather because our customers wear these garments for years, not seasons. Every piece is also made to measure to your actual body measurements, because genuine leather requires correct fit from the start.
If you have questions about our materials or construction before ordering, contact us. We're happy to answer them.
