How to Spot Fake Leather Bag in Five Easy Steps – 2024 Guide

Everybody wants to make more money out of their business, all while reducing costs to the bare minimum. This sometimes goes to the extreme and surpasses moral values.

Needless to say, you can go into a store and get presented with a product marked as a “leather bag” and the materials used for that product are far from real leather.

This guide will help you learn the few indicators that may point out you are about to purchase a fake leather bag.
Since many people nowadays care about fashion, a lot of money flows into fashion-related products and cosmetics. Leather bags are not left out.

These five things will help you identify a fake product and distinguish it, potentially helping you save some money while shopping. Don’t end up with a fake leather bag in your hands that cannot be re-sold, read on and inform yourself.

1. Checking the label which is at least one additional security layer

Labels are often a good indicator, even though it sometimes happens for manufacturers to hide the real materials or list something fake. But, most of the time the labels are trustworthy.

It’s often possible for a bag to be advertised as a “real leather bag” and when you check the label it says eighty percent something else and twenty percent leather. Technically, they are not lying since there is leather involved in the product, but it’s not 100% leather.

So, make sure to check these things, but if you want to be sure, move on to the other tests. You can take a look at some real examples at emporium-Italy.

2. Inspect the bag in person if you can do so

Nowadays, especially due to the covid-19 pandemic, most of us are unable to shop in person. So, we use online stores and webshops on the internet instead, relying on delivery services and hoping the product will be as we expect it to be upon arrival.

However, if you can inspect the bag in person then you should do so before spending your money on it.

The reason for this is that there are many indicating factors on whether it’s real or fake that you can uncover by physically touching, smelling, and “testing” the bag.

Most of the time, a person who is experienced and knows exactly how real leather looks and feels like will instantly recognize an imitation.

But, even if you are not experienced with leather, there are things that you can do, and we’re more than happy to tell them to you.

3. Try to put the bag through the “touching test” if possible

Leather is a natural material so you shouldn’t expect it to be perfect. The number one mistake brands make when trying to advertise their products stating they’re made out of pure leather, is the fact that they make them seem perfect.

When you press on the leather material, it should start to wrinkle. This is the number one indicator. Then, when you run your fingers through the material, it shouldn’t feel perfectly smooth.

According to experts, synthetic materials will always feel colder and a lot more unnatural compared to real leather. But, that’s not all.

When you pour water over a leather bag, fake materials will not absorb it and the water will stay on top of it in a puddle. But, leather will quickly absorb it. Now you obviously cannot do this in a store, but if you already have a product laying around at home, test it whether it’s real or not.

There’s also one more test and that’s the burn test. You can use a match to heat the leather and see if it starts to burn. If it’s real, it won’t. However, fake leather will start to burn and it will have a really weird smell, one that reminds me of burning plastic.

Stitching also should be perfect if it’s real leather. If it looks perfect then it’s probably a fake material and you should avoid purchasing it.

4. Structure test for overall strength and sturdiness

The leather is very sturdy and strong. When you place a real leather bag on a table, and a fake one right next to it, you will realize that the structure of the bag itself doesn’t look the same. The leather one will sit straight and the pressure from the gravity won’t bend it, simply because it’s a strong material.

A fake leather bag however will easily crumble under pressure, not to mention when you put something on top of it or it’s simply loaded with items from the inside. Simply bending both materials one after another for comparison will be a dead giveaway on what’s real and what’s fake.

5. Real leather smells different than fake leather

It may sound strange but real leather smells different compared to an imitation material. Someone who can distinguish this smell can easily tell you whether the bag is real or fake in a split second. But, if you haven’t owned any leather products in the past then you probably won’t know the difference. Rely on other tests instead since they are much easier to pull off.

Even if you don’t know how real leather smells like, you know how plastic and synthetic materials do, and that’s what you need to avoid.

Conclusion

Walking into a store and seeing a very good-looking bag can immediately bring a smile to your face. However, these products are not always what they seem. They are often marketed as something made out of real leather when in fact it’s just an imitation.

The biggest problem with this is that you’re spending money on something that has a much lower real value. And, the harshest reality is that some of the popular brands do this as well.

In the article above you’ll find out about the five key indicators that it’s not real leather. Don’t miss out on these.