The Benefits of Leather Physical Testing for Manufacturers
If you’re a manufacturer importing leather goods, physical tests are essential to ensure your leather products are legally allowed to be sold in your target market. Leather physical tests also determine the quality and authenticity of products containing leather.
Avoid Recall Risks
Leather physical tests ensure your products meet country-specific quality and safety standards. They also mitigate the risk of costly recalls if your goods are found to be defective – a common occurrence with leather imported from developing countries.
Ensure You Comply with EU Product Safety Legislation
There are various legal requirements restricting the use of chemicals in textiles, leather, and footwear sold in the European Union.
However, even if no specific legal requirements apply to your leather goods, all products marketed in Europe have to comply with the EU’s General Product Safety Directive.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) physical tests ensure that leather products meet those safety requirements.
Get Quality Assurance
Physical tests help you avoid common quality problems associated with leather goods. The durability of hides depends on the treatments used in the tanning process, including dyeing and coatings.
Here are some of the issues that can be detected and eliminated by testing your leather products before they are put on the market:
- Looseness of leather
- Signs of excessive growth
- Uneven dyeing
- Cracking leather and coatings
- Color variation
- Weak leather
- Finish failure
- Smell
- Color migration
- Breakage
- Peeling / cracking of the leather finish
Stay up to Date with ISO Legislation
Worldwide quality and safety testing standards for leather and footwear are governed by the ISO. A wide range of leather physical testing methods are dictated by these standards, each of which is reviewed and updated every 5 years.
Genuine Leather Testing and Labeling
If your products contain leather components, you may be eligible to attach ‘Genuine Leather’ labels to those goods.
Whether the leather in your product can be called genuine is determined by the extent of treatments that hides undergo in the tanning process.
‘Genuine leather’ labels can be applied to hide or skin that has been tanned to be rot-proof with its original fibrous structure intact. The hair or wool may or may not have been removed.
Hide or skin which has been split into layers or segmented either before or after tanning is also considered genuine leather, provided that none of the surface is removed by buffing, snuffing or splitting.
However, sheets made by combining fibrous particles and powders produced through mechanical or chemical disintegration of hide are not considered ‘leather’. Additionally, leather surface coatings and glued finishes must not be thicker than 0.15 mm.
Footwear Testing Standards
Footwear intended for sale in Europe has to comply with legally binding safety requirements determined by European testing standards in addition to tests for general leather products. Here are some of the tests that should be performed on footwear.
Footwear Tests
- Sole bonding, seat piece, and sockline adhesion
- Heel and outsole flexibility
- Heel attachment strength (high heels)
- Color shading
- Odor test
- Slip resistance
- Sole wearing resistance
- Shoe lace strength and durability
- Size fitting
Leather Footwear
All footwear and leather goods sold in Europe, for example, must be labeled with information about the main materials used in the three main parts of the shoe: the upper, the lining and insock, as well as the outer sole. Each label must state whether the material for each part is ‘leather’, ‘coated leather, ‘textile’ or ‘other’.
If you have used leather in a footwear product, you may be able to add a ‘genuine leather’ tag to confirm its authenticity.
What Are the Different Types of Leather Physical Tests?
To decide which tests are most suitable for your leather product, consider the purpose of the tests. If you’re concerned about the quality of the leather from your supplier, the following tests will be useful.
Leather Products and Footwear
- Weather testing: waterproof, windproof, thermal
- Heat and water vapor resistance
- Colorfastness check (Rub test)
- Fasteners fatigue and zip quality test
- Shedding propensity
- Stitching reinforcement strength
Leather Physical Tests for Standards Compliance
The tests listed below are ISO tests to determine whether leather products are fit for sale according to worldwide standards and regulations.
Determination of Thickness – ISO 2589:2016Applies to all types of leather of any tannage, and is valid for the whole leather and a test sample.
Determination of Surface Coating Thickness – ISO 17186:2011Measuring the thickness of surface coating applied to all types of leather under zero compression.
Determination of Softness – ISO 17235:2015A non-destructive test for non-rigid leathers such as shoe upper leather, upholstery leather, and apparel leather.
Determination of Density - BS EN ISO 2420:2017Applies to all leathers to determine the apparent density and mass per unit area of leather.
Determination of Flex Resistance - ISO 5402-2:2015Applicable to all types of leather below 3,0 mm in thickness for determining the wet or dry flex resistance of leather and finishes.
Water Staining, Water Fastness – ISO 105-E07:2010, ISO 15700:1999Testing water resistance of a finished product or sample.
Leather Finish Adhesion Testing (Wet & Dry) – ISO 11644:2009Assess the adhesive properties of various finishes for leather and synthetic alternatives.
Leather Tear Strength Testing – ISO 3376:2011, ISO 3377-1:2011, ISO 3377-2: 2016A variety of tests to determine tensile strength and tear load.
Light & Colour Fastness – ISO 105-B02:2014, ISO 15701: 2015Determine the resistance of fading, bleeding, running of dyes or pigments, and color migration.
Rub Fastness Testing – ISO 17700:2005Measures the resistance of colors in leather to loss from rubbing.
Cold Crack Testing of Leather Finish – ISO 17233:2017Determine the resistance of leather coatings to cracking under environmental conditions.
How Long Do Physical Tests Take to Complete?
Most physical testing for leather and footwear takes between 3 and 5 days. However, light fastness testing takes 10 days.
What is the Cost of Leather Physical Tests?
Contact us for an instant quote based on your testing requirements.
How Can QIMA Help You?
We’ll help you decide which tests best meet your specific needs, from testing the quality of the leather before it’s cut and sewn to manufacture your product, to ensuring your finished products meet market-specific requirements and are fit for market.
Get Rapid ResultsWe have regional offices in more than 85 countries with over 2,000 inspectors who can be on site to test your products within 48 hours. You’ll receive detailed reports the same day as the inspection. Find an office near you.
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