Understand The Quality Of Leather For Making Formal Shoes!

Anyone who has ever made the investment in shoes knows that leather shoes can be quite expensive. But before making such a hefty investment, it is imperative to know why these shoes are so expensive. What goes into making these formal leather shoes, where does it go and why? Why are some shoes more expensive than the others? Let’s find out!

Genuine leather shoes have a really thick texture. Unlike other leather items, like purses and jackets, when it comes to shoes the leather has to be stretched to form the shoe. So to make sure the thickness isn’t depleted the leather has to be originally very thick. This is the basic factor in determining the quality of the shoe.

There are different kinds of leather that are ideal for different purposes. The leather that is used to make furniture might not be ideal to make shoes. The kind of leather used for genuine leather shoes is divided into two categories-basic and exotic.

Calfskin is the most commonly used leather for leather formal shoes. Partly because calfskin comes, like the name suggests, from a calf which means it has a tighter grain and hence makes for better fiber. But mostly because it is lighter and thinner than cow hide. Other than calfskin goat skin is also used and the leather goes by the name of kidskin. Peccary or pigskin as the name suggests is the leather that comes from pigs. You can differentiate it from cowskin by seeing the pores. Pigskin leather usually has visibly bigger pores.

And last but not the least, Cordovan leather is the leather made from the fibrous flat muscle beneath the hide on the rump of horses. It also goes by the name of Cordovan Shell. A difficult leather to make, it offers exceptional durability. This is the very same leather that is used to make some of the most high end shoes on the market because of its unique ability to avoid creasing. The only drawback to this leather is since it is difficult to dye it is available in a very narrow range of colors.

If you’re not looking for an exotic pair of formal leather shoes, you can choose from the above choices of leather. They’re of decent quality, good durability and offer fine taste with an unapologetic sense of class. If you want information on higher end leather shoes watch this space for part two!