What Is Suede?

How is suede made?

Suede is made by tanning an animal skin and then buffing (abrading) one face of it until the fibres stand up as a fine, velvet-like nap. Tanning turns raw skin into leather, which EU footwear law defines as hide or skin with its original fibrous structure more or less intact, tanned to be rot-proof. The napping comes afterwards.

In most suede the nap is raised on the flesh side, the inner face of the skin, or on the split side of a flesh split, the inner layer cut from a skin that has been split. Velvet suede is the exception: it is buffed on the grain side, the outer face. Roberts and Etherington’s conservation dictionary says typical suede is produced from the smaller skins, such as calfskin, kidskin, lambskin and goatskin, although cowhide has also been used.

Suede is usually oiled so that it is supple without being greasy. The balance is delicate: even a small excess of fatliquor (the oil emulsion worked into the leather) leaves a greasy nap.

The name comes from the French gants de Suède, “Swedish gloves”. The same dictionary records suede leather in England as early as the 17th century, and in blank-book binding (ledgers and account books) in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

What are the properties of suede?

Suede is soft, matt and napped, but it lacks the tough outer grain, so it is highly absorbent and stains easily, and it is not as durable as good-quality leather.

• Handle: a dense nap that feels close to velvet, though it is a leather surface rather than a woven pile.
• Absorbency: the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s CAMEO database describes suede as highly absorbent and prone to staining because it lacks the grain.
• Durability: CAMEO also notes that suede is not as durable as good leather.
• Damp: the Canadian Conservation Institute notes that mould on leather needs a relative humidity above 65% to grow.

Faux suede behaves differently. CAMEO describes it as made from fine synthetic microfibres, and as durable, easy to clean and water-repellent. It contains no leather at all, which puts it in the same family as faux leather.

How is suede graded?

Suede is judged by which face was napped, the age of the animal and the evenness of the nap, rather than by a single number such as microns or momme.

Both CAMEO and Roberts and Etherington state that velvet suedes are finer than flesh suedes, and that younger skins give finer suede.

Suede and chamois

Chamois is a suede-finished leather in its own right, with no grain surface. Roberts and Etherington define modern chamois as the flesh split of a sheepskin or lambskin, or a sheepskin with the grain removed, tanned by oxidising fish or marine-animal oils in the skin. Suede can come from several animals; chamois is defined by its skin and its oil tannage.

How does suede appear on a label?

Suede is labelled as leather: neither the US Leather Guides nor the EU footwear directive has a separate legal category for it, so what the label tells you is whether the material is leather, coated leather or something made to look like leather.

In the US

The FTC’s Guides for Select Leather and Imitation Leather Products (16 CFR Part 24) are the Commission’s interpretations of the law rather than a fibre-content rule. They cover leather and simulated-leather luggage, wallets, handbags, footwear, belts (when not sold as part of a garment) and similar articles. Garments are not on that list.

• It is deceptive to use the unqualified term “leather”, or other terms suggestive of leather, unless the product is made in all substantial parts of leather.
• A non-leather material that looks like leather should be disclosed, for example as “Not leather”, “Imitation leather”, “Simulated leather” or “Vinyl”.
• Backing a material with another material should be disclosed when the backing is not apparent on casual inspection.
• Ground, shredded, reconstituted or bonded leather should not be represented as leather. Where those terms are used on a leather-look material, the percentages of leather fibres and non-leather substances should be disclosed.

In the EU

Directive 94/11/EC requires footwear labels to state the material of three parts: the upper, the lining and sock, and the outer sole. The label names the material making up at least 80% of the surface area of the upper and of the lining and sock, and at least 80% of the volume of the outer sole; if no single material reaches 80%, it gives the two main materials. The material categories are leather (including coated leather), textiles and “all other materials”. A pair of suede ankle boots would be labelled leather for the upper. “Coated leather” means the surface coating is more than 0.15 mm thick but no more than one third of the total thickness.

How do you tell good suede from poor suede?

Good suede has a nap of even fibres packed so tightly that a fingertip leaves little trace, and it feels supple without feeling oily.

1. Draw a fingertip across the nap. Roberts and Etherington give the quality marker: fibres of uniform length, tightly packed, so the surface does not readily show fingermarks.
2. Rub the nap and check your fingertip. A greasy nap points to too much oil in finishing, which the same dictionary warns against.
3. Look at a cut edge, for example inside a seam allowance or a punched hole. The Canadian Conservation Institute notes that chrome-tanned leathers can sometimes be identified by a blue-green line on the cut edge. That tells you the tannage, not the quality.
4. Check for a backing. On shoes and bags, the US Leather Guides say a backing should be disclosed when it is not apparent on casual inspection. Look at the reverse for a woven or knitted layer stuck to the suede, and check that the label mentions it.
5. Read the label on shoes and bags. In the EU, the upper should be marked leather. In the US, “Not leather”, “Imitation” or “Simulated” means faux suede.

Red flags: a nap that marks heavily under a finger, an oily handle, an undisclosed fabric backing, or “bonded” or “reconstituted” leather sold as suede.

How do you care for suede?

Care for suede by brushing it, keeping liquids off it and storing it at a stable, moderate humidity.

• Brush: for museum objects, the Canadian Conservation Institute says a moderately stiff brush can be used on suede in good condition.
• Avoid powdered erasers: the same note advises against them on suede, because the residue is very difficult to remove.
• Skip dressings: for leather objects, conservators no longer generally recommend leather dressings or saddle soap, and applied oils can stiffen leather.
• Store well: the Institute recommends a stable relative humidity of 45% to 55% for leather, and cotton or polyethylene dust sheets against dust.

Because suede is absorbent and stains easily, keep spills and rain off it.

Is suede sustainable?

Suede has no single sustainability verdict; one part of the answer you can check is how the tannery that made it is run.

The Leather Working Group’s Leather Manufacturer Standard is designed to assess facilities that process leather from raw, crust or tanned material. As of 2026 it covers 17 sections, including energy use, water use, effluent treatment, chemical management, restricted substances and chromium VI management, and traceability of incoming and outgoing material.

Faux suede replaces the animal skin with synthetic microfibres. For the trade-offs between the two, see vegan leather and sustainable fashion.