PU leather Phone cases

nanook5

Hi

I have a small eBay business where I sell phone cases . I'm looking to buy in some "Leather" cases which are made from PU(Polyurethane) /PU leather.

I am strongly against leather and I would prefer not to buy cases that have small amount of 'real' leather in them.

I asked 3 Chinese people(Different suppliers but same product) did the cases contain any real leather and the responses I got said no for 2 and the last one had bad English so they just said "PU leather".

According to Wikipedia PU leather is "Bicast leather (also known as bi-cast leather, bycast leather or PU leather, sometimes described as split leather) is a material made with a split leather backing covered with a layer of polyurethane (hence the term PU leather) that is applied to the surface and then embossed. Because it is only used for the backing, the leather portion of this material is generally not visible in finished goods made from Bicast."

Some people on the internet said that PU leather is just 100% PU only,so I'm confused .

Does anyone have any input/knowledge about fake leather/PU ?

The cases are less than €1 each if that factors into if 'real' leather is in the cases.

Please do not say don't buy them because I obviously don't want to lose out on business if the cases don't have 'real' leather in them

Any replies appreciated

--LOS--

Ye I've come across that term before, 'PU leather' in relation to smaller items. Sometimes it seems to be used to describe Bicast leather and sometimes it's used to describe 100% polyurethane, pretty annoying. Whenever I see 'PU leather' I get a bit suspicious, all you can do is ask if it is 100% polyurethane or not and then you have to either trust the answer or make your own judgement.

You can usually tell from looking at it if it is indeed split leather or if it's 100% polyurethane. If it's split leather, the inside/back would look more sueded, more furry appearance, but if it's just polyurethane it looks a lot smoother, more plasticy. I'm just looking at the inside of my veggie airseal boots and while they're not made from PU, the inside looks from afar like real leather, but when you actually examine it, it's quite smooth and it's pretty smooth to the touch too, and the backing of 100% PU generally looks even less realistic than this. So I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures of the phone covers?

But since most companies are more than happy to point out any leather that is in their products as a selling point, because leather's so great ya know, if they are marketing it as 100% PU then I wouldn't question it. If they are marketing it as PU leather, then I'm not sure if they're trying to point out that there is some leather in there or if they're trying to let it be known that the item is fake leather. But since you asked and 2 out of 3 said no leather, then I'd be inclined to think there is no leather. Maybe you could try with the 3rd person again..... "is it 100% polyurethane?" and see what they say. Otherwise, given the cost and the fact that 2 said no, I'd be inclined to believe there's no real leather in there. If the 3rd person comes back to you and says yes 100% PU, there is a slight possibility they're lying but that would be rare I think. So I would be inclined to buy it then.

nanook5

Thanks for your detailed reply

Judging by how you have described what PU should look like it seems that these cases look smooth and quite plasticy (Although they may have been embossed by machine).I can't see the inside so I couldn't tell you about the Fluffiness.

Would be able to have a look at these photos of the cases and make a judgement,as you have more experience than me.

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I have asked a few more suppliers,so they will get back to me by tomorrow morning because of time difference .

I'll let you know what they say .

Thanks again

--LOS--

No sorry I can't tell from the outside, they are really able to make things look so much like leather so I couldn't tell. But I meant the inside, you know how the back of a leather belt would be kinda furry. I came across this link, if you click into those 2 items and look at the inside of the flap, you can see there is a difference.

nanook5

I see what you mean about the furry now . I guess I can only trust what the manufacturers say in this situation .

I'll buy them and if they are look like they contain real leather anywhere on the inside/outside I just won't buy them again .

Thanks for your replies

nanook5

Hi Bob

I've already bought some but thanks for the offer .

--LOS--

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