Leather is one of the most popular types of fabric, which is used widely all around the world.
However, the word ‘leather’ just widely classifies the fabric, that is to say, there are several different types of leather, such as full-grain leather, top-grain leather, split-grain leather, bonded leather, genuine leather, real leather, and more.
Vegan leather and pleather are two more types of leather.
Key Takeaways
- Vegan leather is an ethical alternative to genuine leather, made from various plant-based materials.
- Pleather is a synthetic material made from plastic, such as polyurethane or PVC.
- Vegan leather is more eco-friendly and sustainable than pleather, which can release harmful chemicals during production.
Vegan Leather vs Pleather
Vegan leather is made artificially without adding any animal skin. The quality of vegan leather is not comparable with pure leather, and it is not long-lasting. Pleather is made by adding animal skin to it with some specific type of plastic. Fabric containing pleather is good in quality and durable.
Vegan leather is also known as fake leather or faux leather. The reason is that vegan leather does not contain animal skin. By just observing, the vegan leather looks the same as real leather, however, its texture might differ from the real leather.
Moreover, vegan leather is less durable and tough than real leather.
The word ‘pleather’ is made up of two different words, which are, ‘plastic’ and ‘leather’. As the words indicate, pleather is a type of leather that is a combination of leather and plastic.
The two major components that are used in the manufacturing of pleather are animal skin, which is indicated by the word leather, and plastic.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of comparison | Vegan leather | Pleather |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Vegan leather is an artificial type of leather. | Pleather is not an artificial type of leather. |
| Also known as | Vegan leather is also known as faux leather. | Pleather is also known as plastic leather. |
| Animal skin | Vegan leather does not contain any animal skin. | Pleather includes animal leather. |
| Made up of | Vegan leather is made up of materials like cork and synthetic materials. | Pleather is made up of plastic. |
| Life expectancy | Vegan leather does not last for a longer duration of time as compared to pleather. | Pleather lasts for a longer duration of time as compared to vegan leather. |
What is Vegan Leather?
Leather is a tough, durable, and long-lasting fabric that can be used for several different purposes.
However, so many advantages of the fabric make it extremely costly, and it does not become possible for every person to afford the leather.
Thus, vegan leather comes as an affordable solution for people who want to buy leather but cannot afford the real one.
Apart from that, many protests and debates have been going on for years not to use leather because it consists of animal skin which is extracted by killing animals.
Thousands of animals are killed every year to make leather. Thus, vegan leather is introduced as an eco-friendly solution to real leather.
Vegan leather does not contain any sort of animal skin for its manufacture, instead, it is made purely out of chemical and synthetic material.
Since vegan leather does not contain animal skin, its manufacturing process becomes shorter, and less labour is required in extracting animal skin and for further processes such as bleaching, tanning, and more.
All these reasons consequently result in a lesser cost of vegan leather as compared to other types of leather, which makes it an affordable option.
What is Pleather?
Pleather is a type of semi-leather, that is to say, it is not completely leather, or in other words, it can be said that pleather does not completely consist of animal skin.
Instead, it also consists of another crucial component, which is plastic. Several different types of plastics can be used in the manufacturing of pleather.
Depending upon what type of plastic is used in the manufacturing of pleather, it can be classified into several different types.
There are majorly two different types of plastics that are used in the manufacturing of pleather is polyvinyl chloride, which is also abbreviated as PVC, and polyurethane, which is abbreviated as PU.
Generally, depending upon whether PVC is used in the pleather or PU, the composition of the pleather, its toughness, its durability, its life expectancy, its cost, and other factors differ as well.
On comparing both PVC and PU based on which is more environmentally friendly, PU is considered to be better than PVC. Though pleather consists of animal skin, it differs greatly from real leather.
The weight of pleather is very light as compared to the weight of real leather.
Main Differences Between Vegan Leather and Pleather
- The manufacturing process of vegan leather is shorter as compared to pleather. On the contrary, the manufacturing process of pleather takes a longer duration of time as compared to vegan leather.
- Vegan leather lasts for about 4 months to 12 months on average. On the other hand, pleather lasts for about a minimum of 2 years to a maximum of 3 years on average.
- Vegan leather is less tough as compared to pleather. Whereas pleather is tougher as compared to vegan leather.
- Vegan leather is less durable as compared to the durability of pleather. On the contrary, pleather is more durable than vegan leather’s durability.
- Vegan leather is not very versatile as compared to pleather. Pleather is highly versatile as compared to vegan leather.
Last Updated : 25 July, 2023
I’ve put so much effort writing this blog post to provide value to you. It’ll be very helpful for me, if you consider sharing it on social media or with your friends/family. SHARING IS ♥️
Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
