When choosing your leather office chair, you'll need to be aware that leather, as a natural material, needs ongoing cleaning, conditioning and maintenance.
Without constant care, leather office chairs tend to suffer from more than just general wear and tear - the leather can become cracked, distorted, discoloured and eventually will be beyond repair.
However, the way in which you clean, condition and treat your chair will depend on the type of leather it is, and how it has been finished.
The vast majority of leather furniture on the market is finished, which means that the natural material has a protective coating to reduce staining and wear and tear.
With finished leather, you're more than likely able to find the appropriate cleaner and conditioner at your local supermarket, or home improvement store.
In some cases, the leather has been treated differently and will not have a protective finish.
This article takes a look at the different types of finishes that you might find on your leather office chair.
Aniline Aniline refers to leathers that can been treated with aniline dyes.
The dyes themselves are actually transparent, and are used because they bring out the natural marks and grains of leather, enhancing any unique markings.
For this reason, no two aniline hides are the same, which, for some people, means that aniline leather is much more desirable.
An aniline leather office chair will tend to have soft, supple leather with natural, rich colouring.
Although the aniline dye penetrates through the hide, it will not leave a protective coating on the leather, leaving it vulnerable to spills, stains and marks.
Semi-Aniline Leather office chairs labeled as 'Semi-Aniline leather', means that the hide on the chair has also not only been dyed with aniline to bring out the natural colours, grain and markings, but it has also been treated with a clear sealant as a protective topcoat too.
This protective layer can leave the leather with a slight sheen, but is usually applied thinly enough to leave the material feeling as soft and supple as aniline leather, with the added benefit of extra protection from spills, stains and scuffs.
Waxed Aniline Leather Some hides are not only be treated with aniline dyes, but also may have an extra application of waxes and oils.
If your office chair has a waxed aniline coating, then it may develop a 'patina' that some people find a desirable quality.
It may also be prone to an accumulation of scuffmarks in the protective layer, which can be removed.
Nubuck Nubuck has the appearance of suede, but is actually created from on the top grain side of the leather (the non-flesh side, as suede is), by buff brushing and breaking down the hides to create a soft, velvety finish.
The way that Nubuck is created does, however, leave it vulnerable to marking and stains.
Pigmented Pigmented leather is a hide that has been dyed with aniline, but also have had a pigmented topcoat to reduce the appearance of any natural blemishes or marks in the hide.
Whilst the pigment allows some of the natural grain to show through, it tends to make the colour much more uniform.
The topcoat also serves as a robust protective layer, and so reduces general wear and tear.