Styles changes, and so does the textiles that are used for coats, but no other fabric has kept its popularity as persistent throughout the years as leather.

Working in the fashion industry for most of my life, I observed that most shoppers are attracted towards organic textiles, like suede, cashmere and shearling. For some bizarre reason that I still do not grasp, shoppers are attracted to items that are real as compared to man-made textiles such as polyester or PU (polyurethane, also known as "pleather").  Some clients express to me that they rather have  going out a natural and biodegradable material like leather because they feel more comfortable in it and their body breaths better. "It feels more natural", one client told me. I had another client tell me that  putting on a "pleather" jacket is like wearing a garbage bag. Petroleum byproducts such as PU(pleather) seem to turn many shoppers off?

There are some people that will debate that leather is no longer natural once it has gone through the tanning process. The argument is that there are so many chemicals injected in the tanning practice that leather no longer is biodegradable. And this is true...but only a marginal number leather fashions actually use this kind of handling. I am a third generation fashion expert and I notice many leather coats and leather jackets that are so aged that they are starting to degrade. Leather jackets are still biodegradable using today's tanning practices, but they need to come from tanneries that are using specific organic oils (which is most of the tanneries in North America).

An additional reason why I perceive leather jackets are fashionable is because they can not be entirely imitiated. Every leather hide is unique; as a result every leather apparel will have certain singularity. The scars or birthmarks that is on the leather is what makes the coat distinctive. And maybe that is the true cause why we are fond of leathers so much, we all yearn something that is unique to us, so we can be different. As long as that state of mind will carry on, I think it is safe to say that leather will be just as fashionable in the future as it is today.

This article was produced by Dino Karatzios who is a 3^rd generation coat maker. He learned the professionfrom his Father (Dimitrios who is the actual master furrier) and has been working in the fur tradesince he was born. You can say that furs and fashion outerwear is practically in his blood. For more information regarding furs, leathers or specialty wools, please feel free to contact Dino at Frank's Furs and Fashions (http://www.franksfurs.com)