At a glance
| Type | The surface | What FIRA says | Use (our reading) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aniline | Dyed through, no colour coating on the surface; premium hides only | Soft and the most expensive; more susceptible to light and to liquid; slight colour variation across the hide | Low-use pieces |
| Semi-aniline | Dyed through with a thin surface coat, designed to imitate aniline | Light fastness improved, colour variation reduced, still easily damaged by spillage and soiling | Domestic and lighter use |
| Pigmented | Surface buffed if needed, then an opaque coloured polymer coat, embossed to a grain | The most durable and the most used upholstery leather | The usual choice for hospitality and heavy use |
| Finished split | The flesh layer of a hide with a polymer coat made to look like grain | Weaker than grain leather: low-stress applications only | Light, low-stress use |
| Nubuck | Aniline whose grain surface is lightly sanded to a velvet finish | Absorbent: soft but susceptible to spills and contamination | Surfaces touched little |
| Oil or wax finished | Aniline with an oil or wax top treatment | Becomes worn-in looking; lightens where used hard, such as seats; scuffs easily | Where a worn-in look is wanted |
| Bycast | A split with a polyurethane film rolled onto an adhesive layer | Variable quality; lightens when stretched; scuffs; FIRA advises testing before use | Only with test results |
| Full-grain, top-grain, corrected grain | Trade terms for how much of the natural grain remains; definitions vary | FIRA's pigmented entry includes buffing to reduce scarring | Ask the supplier to define the term in writing |
The first three columns follow FIRA's pages on leather types (12 September 2022), summarised in our words. The last column is our reading of FIRA and of our materials page, not a source's verdict, and a partner upholsterer confirms it for each leather.
Categories and finishes: what the surface is
Most furniture leather is grain leather, meaning the natural grain layer is largely intact and is finished on that side. Three questions describe it: where on the hide it comes from, how it was tanned, and what finish sits on the surface. FIRA's description of the areas of a hide is the useful one for a specifier: the butt is densely fibred and thicker and gives the best durability; the belly or flank is the least dense and gives a soft leather with reduced durability; the shoulder is less dense than the butt, with a wrinkly surface. Our leather page makes the same point in use: the firmest part of the hide goes where the seat wears.
The finish is what the drawing shows. Aniline is dyed through with no colour coating, so it keeps its natural look and its softness, and it is more open to light and to liquids. Semi-aniline adds a thin protective coat and tries to keep the look: FIRA says most people cannot tell it from aniline, but it is still easily damaged by spillage and soiling. Pigmented leather is buffed to reduce scarring if needed, given an opaque coloured polymer coat and embossed; FIRA calls it the most durable and the most used. A finished split is the flesh layer of a hide with a polymer coat made to look like grain, and FIRA says it should be used only in low-stress applications. Nubuck, oil or wax finished leather and bycast are variations in the table, and FIRA recommends testing bycast before use because its quality varies.
Tannage is a separate question. Chrome tanning, vegetable tanning and other routes give different leathers, and our leather page says chrome tanning accounts for most upholstery leather (we have not checked this). Claims such as ‘chrome-free’ or ‘sustainable’ need a certificate naming the scheme or standard and the batch, not a sales line.
Terms. ‘Full-grain’, ‘top-grain’ and ‘corrected grain’ are trade words whose definitions vary, and our own pages use them. BS EN 15987:2022, Leather. Terminology. Key definitions for the leather trade, is current on BSI Knowledge and, by its scope, gives guidance on the correct use of the term ‘leather’; we have not read its definitions. Ask the supplier to describe the leather in writing, in its terms.
The standards: a guide, not a grading
Three things are true at once, and the specifier needs all three.
- BS EN 13336:2022, Leather. Upholstery leather characteristics. Guide for selection of leather for furniture, is the current edition on BSI Knowledge (published 31 August 2022; it replaced the 2012 edition, which BSI shows as withdrawn on 9 August 2022). Its scope gives guidelines for test methods and recommended values for upholstery leather for furniture, and specifies sampling and conditioning of specimens. It excludes furs, hair-on leathers and wool-on leathers. FIRA says it does not set end-use criteria.
- BS 6608:1985, Specification for cattle hide leathers for upholstered furniture, did grade leather for use. BSI shows it as withdrawn on 30 September 2014. FIRA's page of September 2022 calls it withdrawn and over 20 years old and says a revised BS 6608 with performance requirements for different applications is expected; we found no revised edition on BSI.
- BS ISO 16131:2012, Leather. Upholstery leather characteristics. Selection of leather for furniture, is the international counterpart and BSI lists it as current, under review. BSI also carries a draft-for-comment record (26/30550173 DC, 13 March 2026) for a BS ISO 16131, which signals that a revision is in progress. A record marked ‘current’ with a DC number is a draft, not a standard.
So there is a guide to methods and values and no published, neutral grading by venue. In the interim FIRA says it uses its own requirements, based on the two standards and in-house expertise, to judge whether a leather suits upholstery and for which environment. Those requirements are not published, which is why the specification should name the tests and the values rather than a grade.
The tests to ask for
FIRA lists the key properties as tear, flexing endurance, adhesion of finish, colour fastness to wet and dry to-and-fro rubbing, and colour fastness to light. They tell you about strength, whether the surface will crack and lift, whether the colour will rub off and whether it will fade. The table gives the method BSI names for each in its list of normative references for BS EN 13336:2022, and the status of each method as BSI shows it. We have not read the standards.
| Property to ask about | Method named in BSI's reference list for BS EN 13336:2022 | Status seen on BSI Knowledge | What it tells you (FIRA's words where given) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tear | ISO 3377-1:2011, single edge tear | ISO edition listed as under review | Strength of the leather |
| Flex resistance | BS EN ISO 5402-1:2022, flexometer method | Current | Whether the surface is likely to crack and delaminate in use |
| Adhesion of finish | BS EN ISO 11644:2022 | Current (the 2009 edition was withdrawn 8 Nov 2022) | Whether the top coat stays bonded |
| Colour fastness to rubbing, dry and wet | BS EN ISO 11640:2018, to-and-fro rubbing with wool felt | Current, under review | Whether the colour wears off by rubbing |
| Colour fastness to light | No light-fastness method appears in the 15-entry reference list | Not applicable: ask the laboratory to name its method | Whether the colour fades in sunlight |
| Perspiration, water spotting, cold crack, pH | BS EN ISO 11641:2025; 15700:1999; 17233:2017; 4045:2018 | Current | FIRA's 2022 page lists perspiration as outside the standards: confirm the clause |
| Ignitability | BS EN 1021-1 and -2:2014 | Current | Fire is judged on the finished composite, not on the leather alone |
How to use the table. Ask for results on the colourway and batch you will receive, with the method and its edition named on the report, from a laboratory accredited for those methods (see FIRA Gold and furniture test reports). Then say what values you judge them against: the recommended values in BS EN 13336:2022, which a test house can read for you, or values you agree in writing. A pass against nothing is not a result.
Beyond the standards. FIRA names soil resistance, colour fastness to perspiration and leather stretch as useful extra tests, to be used with the standards to build a full profile. FIRA's test house lists leather tests including flexing, visible soiling, abrasion and light fastness.
Fire. The fire evidence for upholstered seating is for the finished composite of cover, any interliner and the filling, not for the leather alone. See the BS 7176 sheet and the fire documentation matrix. The cloth tests in our fabric performance sheet (Martindale, pilling, seam slippage) do not apply to leather.
Hide size, usable area and yield
A hide is an irregular shape. Its size is its area, in square feet or square metres (BS EN ISO 11646:2014 is the method for measuring the area of a piece of leather, and ask which unit is quoted). Its usable area is what is left once the edges, scars and holes are set aside, and it depends on the size of the pieces: small pieces nest into the margins, while a large panel needs a clean rectangle. The published statements below differ by supplier, origin and hide.
| Source | Hide size | Yield or waste statement |
|---|---|---|
| Our materials page | Standard hide 50 to 55 sq ft (4.6 to 5.1 m²) | Quantity worked out per item, allowing for pattern placement and cutting waste |
| US leather supplier A | Most leathers average 40 to 50 sq ft (3.7 to 4.6 m²); sold as half or full hides | None given |
| US leather supplier B | Average whole hide 55 sq ft on its web page and 58 sq ft (5.4 m²) on its PDF diagram; half hide 27 sq ft (2.5 m²) | Typical cutting area 58 x 72 in (150 x 180 cm); longest cut 99 in (250 cm); usable area depends on the product |
| US leather supplier C | A hide is about 7 x 7 ft (2.1 x 2.1 m) | 18 sq ft of leather per yard of 54 in cloth, allowing for waste; that cloth is 13.5 sq ft, so about 75% is usable (our arithmetic) |
| US leather supplier D | Hides sold in bands: 34 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59 and over 60 sq ft | About 25% of a hide is waste; cut area typically 4 to 10 in (100 to 250 mm) in from every edge; guaranteed clean cuts of 27 x 27 in (686 mm): 3 in a 40 to 49 sq ft hide, 4 in a 50 to 59 |
Four things follow. One, there is no standard hide: the statements run from 40 to 58 sq ft, and one supplier gives two averages (55 and 58) in two places. Our leather page's 50 to 55 sq ft sits in the middle. Two, the largest clean rectangle is about half the hide: one supplier's typical cutting area of 150 x 180 cm is 2.7 m² in a 5.4 m² hide (our arithmetic). Three, usable shares of about 75% (one supplier's cloth equivalence, another's 25% waste) are the ones to hold in mind for small pieces, and less for large panels. Four, hide size is not yield: our journal article calls 50 to 55 sq ft a ‘usable yield’, which reads as the size.
The worked arithmetic for a set of chairs, with an assumed 52 sq ft hide and usable shares of 75% and 65%, is on the yardage sheet; the statements above bracket those values. For customer's own leather, ask the tannery for the area of the hides in the batch, measured to BS EN ISO 11646, and the cutting area, and have the upholsterer confirm the number of hides from a cutting plan.
Specification wording
Paste into your schedule or specification and replace anything in [square brackets] with your own figures. Wording is a starting point: your specification governs.
Upholstery leather: [bovine] grain leather, [pigmented / semi-aniline / aniline] finish, [name, colourway], [ ] mm thick, hides averaging [ ] m² from batch [ ], described in the terms of BS EN 15987:2022 [edition to confirm]. Finished split, bonded and polyurethane-film leathers are not accepted [unless stated].
For the colourway and batch supplied, supply a report from a laboratory accredited for the methods, stating each method and edition, giving: tear (ISO 3377-1), flex resistance (BS EN ISO 5402-1) [dry and wet], adhesion of finish (BS EN ISO 11644), colour fastness to rubbing dry and wet (BS EN ISO 11640), colour fastness to light [method named by the laboratory], and [perspiration (BS EN ISO 11641), soil resistance]. Results to meet [the recommended values in BS EN 13336:2022 for the use / the values agreed in writing with the client].
Fire performance is that of the finished composite, not the leather alone (clause [B2]). Approve a production sample cut from the batch, not a swatch; natural variation between hides is accepted within [the approved range]. Hides are inspected by [ ] before cutting. Customer's own leather: hide area [ ] m² each to BS EN ISO 11646; quantity as the upholsterer's confirmed cutting plan. Any claim such as chrome-free or vegetable-tanned is supported by a certificate naming the standard or scheme, the product and the batch.
Terms used on this page
- Aniline leather
- Leather dyed through with no pigment coating, so natural marks show and it feels soft. It marks and fades easily, so it suits low-use pieces more than busy venues.
- Pigmented leather
- Leather with a coloured polymer surface and usually an embossed grain. It is the toughest and most widely used type for furniture.
Standards and sources
- BS EN 13336:2022: guide to methods and values; BSI: current, 31 Aug 2022.
- BS 6608:1985: withdrawn 30 Sep 2014 (BSI).
- BS ISO 16131:2012: current, under review; a 2026 draft record exists.
- FIRA: leather types; specifying leather: 12 Sep 2022.
Questions we are asked
What is the difference between aniline, semi-aniline and pigmented leather?
Aniline is dyed through with no colour coating, so it is soft and natural but open to light and liquids. Semi-aniline adds a thin protective coat and keeps much of the look. Pigmented has an opaque coloured polymer coat, usually embossed, and FIRA calls it the most durable and the most used upholstery leather.
Which leather suits restaurant or hotel seating?
FIRA calls pigmented leather the most durable and most used, and our materials page gives pigmented or protected semi-aniline as the usual choice for contract work. Whichever you choose, ask for test results on the actual leather, not just a type name.
What does BS EN 13336 require of a leather?
It is a guide to test methods and recommended values for upholstery leather for furniture, and FIRA says it sets no end-use criteria. We have not read the recommended values: ask a test house, and write the values you want into the specification.
Is BS 6608 still current?
BSI shows BS 6608:1985 as withdrawn on 30 September 2014. FIRA's 2022 page says a revised edition with performance levels for different applications is expected; we found none on BSI.
How big is a hide, and how much of it can be used?
There is no standard size: suppliers state 40 to 58 sq ft, and our materials page says 50 to 55. What is usable depends on the size of the pieces: one supplier's typical cutting area is half the hide, and the margins and scars make up most of the waste. Ask the tannery for the area of your hides and the upholsterer for a cutting plan.
Does leather need its own fire certificate?
Upholstered seating is tested as a finished composite of cover, interliner and filling, so the evidence is for the composite. See the BS 7176 and fire documentation sheets.
How should leather upholstery be cleaned?
FIRA advises dusting with a soft lint-free cloth, vacuuming with a soft brush, wiping spills with a soft moist cloth and mild soap if needed, and avoiding household detergents, wax, spray polishes and abrasives. Ask the supplier for finish-specific care instructions.
Download the factsheet
A two-page A4 PDF with the table of leather types, the five surfaces in section, the tests to ask for, hide sizes and wording to specify.