There are two possible origins for the suede note. Musky-suede secretions containing muscone were used in the past, or the note is a tactile evocation of suede, softer and more supple than leather.
Suede as a leather
Suede is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish. It is made from the underside of the animal skin, which is softer and more pliable than the outer skin layer, though not as durable. Most suede comes from lamb, although goat, calf and deer skins are also commonly used. Splits from thick hides of cow and deer are sueded as well, but because of their fiber content they have a shaggy nap. Younger or smaller animals are often chosen, since the skins of adults tend to give a coarse, shaggy nap.
Because suede lacks the tough exterior skin layer, it is both less durable and softer than standard full-grain leather. Its softness, thinness and pliability make it suitable for clothing and delicate uses. It is a popular material for jackets, shoes, bags, upholstery and other accessories, and it is also used as a lining for other leather products. Its textured surface and open pores mean that suede may become dirty and quickly absorb liquids. Suede is often used in place of leather when more breathability is needed, for example in footwear for hot weather.
Salt, dirt, water, oils and moisture can stain or wear out suede, and excess moisture can damage it, so it should not be cleaned with soap and water or machine washed. Suede brushes, suede rubbers and nail files are used to clean it, often with white vinegar or cornstarch.
How hides become leather
The making of leather is divided into three fundamental subprocesses: preparatory stages, tanning and crusting, to which a finishing step can be added. In the preparatory stages the hide is made ready for tanning, and they may include soaking, hair removal, liming, deliming, bating, bleaching and pickling. Tanning stabilizes the proteins of the raw hide, particularly collagen, which raises its thermal, chemical and microbiological stability. Raw hides dry out to a hard, inflexible material that putrefies when rewetted, whereas tanned material dries to a flexible form that does not.
Historically, vegetable tanning used tannin, an acidic compound derived from the bark of certain trees. Chrome tanning, developed in the 1800s, uses chromium salts instead of natural tannins and accounts for 85-90% of modern leather making. Chrome tanning is faster than vegetable tanning and produces a stretchable leather that suits handbags and garments. At higher pH the hexaaquachromium(III) cation formed from chromium(III) sulfate undergoes olation to give polychromium(III) compounds, which cross-link the collagen subunits. Tanning increases the spacing between protein chains in collagen from 10 to 17 Å. In the raw state, chrome-tanned skins are greyish-blue and are called wet blue. Chromium-tanned leather can contain between 4 and 5% of chromium. Chromium(III) compounds of the kind used in tanning are significantly less toxic than hexavalent chromium, which can arise from inadequate waste treatment.
Nubuck, chamois and other relatives
Split leather is created from the corium left once the top-grain has been separated from the hide, and suede is made from the underside of such a split. Nubuck is top-grain leather that has been sanded or buffed on the grain side to give a slight nap of short protein fibers, producing a velvet-like surface. It resembles suede but is made from the outer side of a hide, which gives it more strength and thickness and a fine grain. Nubuck is generally more expensive than suede, and it must be coloured or dyed heavily to cover up the sanding and stamping process.
Chamois leather is a porous leather, traditionally the skin of the chamois, a European mountain goat, but today made almost exclusively from the flesh split of a sheepskin. In the United States, the term chamois without qualification is restricted to the flesh split of sheep or lambskin tanned solely with oils. Tanned in cod oil, the leather made for the glovemaking industry of southwest France proved to be of unprecedented absorbency.
Leather materials used in perfumery
Russia leather is a water-resistant leather oiled with birch bark oil after tanning. The oil impregnation deterred insect attack and gave a distinctive, pleasant aroma that was seen as a mark of quality in leather. Birch bark tar is made by dry distillation of birch tree bark. It is mainly composed of triterpenoid compounds of the lupane and oleanane family, and its most characteristic molecules are betulin and lupeol. Birch bark tar oil has strong antiseptic properties, owing to a large amount of phenol derivatives and terpenoid derivatives. At the turn of the twentieth century birch bark tar became a specialty fragrance material, a base note giving a leathery, smoky note, especially in leather and tobacco fragrances and, to a lesser extent, in Chypres such as Cuir de Russie, typically together with castoreum and isobutyl quinoline.
Castoreum is a yellowish exudate from the castor sacs of mature beavers. For perfumery it is extracted with alcohol from the dried and crushed castor sacs and used as a tincture. The dried sacs are generally aged for two or more years to mellow. At least 24 compounds are known constituents of beaver castoreum, among them phenols such as 4-ethylphenol and catechol and ketones such as acetophenone and 3-hydroxyacetophenone. Castoreum is largely used for its note suggesting leather.
The isomer 4-(2-methylpropyl)quinoline, one form of isobutyl quinoline, has the formula C₁₃H₁₅N and a molecular weight of 185.26. Its formula is C₁₂H₁₄O.
PREMIEREPEAU
In the PREMIEREPEAU collection, suede's powdery intimacy is structurally adjacent to Simili Mirage, whose leather-salt architecture explores the harder side of the same raw material.
This note in PREMIEREPEAU. Simili Mirage. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
