What is Patent Leather?

I remember that as little girls, my sister and I had patent leather Sunday shoes. Every Saturday evening, I watched as my dad got out the box of shoe polishes, took out a small jar of Vaseline®, and spread a thin layer on our shoes. Like magic, the scuffs and scratches put there by carefree dancing feet disappeared under the polishing rag.

Shiny shoes in today's shoe store windows or lined up in rows on store racks are often made from imitation patent leather, sometimes even from completely manmade materials with no leather at all. Not too long ago, it was nearly impossible to find real patent leather. Designers have begun using the material again, perhaps because it is available from foreign sources where it is cheap to produce. Real patent leather is used once again to make everything from fancy sneakers to traditional formal footwear and evening bags.

The original US patent leather process was developed in 1818 by a man named Seth Boyden, who lived in Newark, New Jersey. He was trying to develop a durable leather finish that was more dressy-looking than regular leather. Regular leather quickly dulled, and Boyden wanted a leather finish that would hold its shine. He experimented with different oil treatments. He finally came up with a multi-step process using linseed oil that created a high gloss, lacquer-like shine. The leather remained soft and pliable, an imperative trait for shoemaking. Each application of linseed oil was hand-rubbed and polished before the next layer of oil was applied, making the process very labor intensive. An added bonus to the linseed oil process was that it made the leather waterproof. Boyden's product was quick to catch on, and it soon became the norm for fashionable formal footwear and leather items.

Original patent leather began with very high quality leather. The original patent leather finishing method gives a softness and depth to the shine that newer processes lack. Modern technology gives us patent leather that is coated with any of a variety of plastic or resin coatings. The leather used in modern processes may even be a compressed leather product, and not a true piece of tanned hide. A modern coating is often extremely thin, thinner than paper, and it does not stand up well to normal wear and tear. A simple scuff can cause the coating layer to peel away from the leather, impossible to repair.

Somewhere in the middle of these manufacturing extremes, during the early to mid 20^th century, petroleum-based oils were used to give patent leather its shine. Besides Vaseline®, white mineral oil (baby oil...also a petroleum based product) was a good cleaner/polisher for this era of patent leather.

If you have patent leather items today, test any cleaner you use in a small, inconspicuous spot before using it. An edge that has been folded to the inside is a good place to test, or under a buckle or decorative accent. The variety of coatings and finishes range from oils to resins, and not all cleaning products are compatible with the different finishes, even if they all are labeled "patent leather."

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_leather

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Patent-Leather.html