Is this real or faux leather?

[Bokobling]

I recently received some leather items. A sheepskin brown and black jacket with a hood, a sheepskin black jacket, and a calf backpack. I've looked at the various ways to tell if something is leather but I'm the type that won't be convinced unless an expert sees it. Below are pictures of the items if anyone would like to give their opinion. The first picture is the brown and black hooded jacket. The next three is the sleeve of the regular black jacket. The rest of the pictures are of the backpack.

https://imgur.com/gallery/qtTJo

Thank you.

[Bokobling]

7 minutes ago, nstarleather said:

I'd say with about 90% certainty that it's real.  You can see the edges look like unfinished leather (faux leather would look more like cut plastic).  Add to that the fact that the last picture shows grain of varying sizes: tighter/smaller near the zipper and bigger on the other panel.

Awesome, thank you! It's all really nice looking stuff so it's good to know it's also real.

[whitakermk]

That looks like "real" leather - but I think it's a product of a side of leather being split.

Meaning - A thick piece of leather is split in half and the top piece is what we would tool, stain, etc, etc.

The split, or the bottom side -  is rough on both sides - almost a few steps away from being close to suede if soft enough - or tough as nails and scratchy - depending on the side of leather.

Then, some companies/tanneries/processors take the splits and they are treated, smoothed on top, and run through a color and imprinting process to make a product that is leather, but now has a "patterned" leather looking top that's uniform in color and dimple pattern. They can make leather, gator, ostrich, elephant and more pieces.

At the saddle shop - American/Big Horn/ShoTan leather - we use the term for leather like that - upholstery leather, or Ostrich Print Cowhide.

It's kind of like upcycling and recycling. 

The leather side of the shop - ShoTan Leather - sells a bunch of that (finished product) to classic car guys, vintage motorcycle shops, as well as some of the saddle builder customers. They seem to use it for seating leather, liners for padded tack etc.

Just my opinion - hope it helps - Kent

[Bokobling]

40 minutes ago, whitakermk said:

That looks like "real" leather - but I think it's a product of a side of leather being split.

Meaning - A thick piece of leather is split in half and the top piece is what we would tool, stain, etc, etc.

The split, or the bottom side -  is rough on both sides - almost a few steps away from being close to suede if soft enough - or tough as nails and scratchy - depending on the side of leather.

Then, some companies/tanneries/processors take the splits and they are treated, smoothed on top, and run through a color and imprinting process to make a product that is leather, but now has a "patterned" leather looking top that's uniform in color and dimple pattern. They can make leather, gator, ostrich, elephant and more pieces.

At the saddle shop - American/Big Horn/ShoTan leather - we use the term for leather like that - upholstery leather, or Ostrich Print Cowhide.

It's kind of like upcycling and recycling. 

The leather side of the shop - ShoTan Leather - sells a bunch of that (finished product) to classic car guys, vintage motorcycle shops, as well as some of the saddle builder customers. They seem to use it for seating leather, liners for padded tack etc.

Just my opinion - hope it helps - Kent

I'm ok with this too. Thank you for the detailed explanation.

[Weaver Leather Supply]

I would say what you have is a corrected grain (top grain) with pebble or tumbled look.  I doubt it is a finished split, however I am not sure there is a real great way to tell a finished split from a top grain, other than if you have one beside the other you can easily tell the difference in strength because you can tear the split.  But its still "real" leather...it is just the bottom drop from the flesh side.  

[whitakermk]

Just ran across this video. Skip to about the 7:50 mark - or watch the whole thing - the dog is my dream dog - just lays there and eyeball's the guy talking!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8Dsuqgis8A