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F-21 t1_j4mvrkw wrote

Reply to comment by regaphysics in Leather vs Nylon for a Travel Bag by ms_misfit0808

> Leather requires maintenance, nylon doesn’t.

That's a bit hard to say, even without maintenance the leather may last way longer than a nylon bag. Depends on what leather is used of course, it's not all the same.

I think main issue with leather is the weight...

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regaphysics t1_j4mym8k wrote

Thick nylon ripstop is durable stuff. Just as long lived or more than high quality leather. It just can tear a bit easier. All leather requires maintenance, regardless of quality. It loses moisture and will crack.

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F-21 t1_j4n2s46 wrote

Quality matters, some types of leather can go on for years and years with no maintenance. Depends a lot on the tanning process. On a bag, it also does not fold much and isn't folded nearly as often as on clothing or footwear...

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regaphysics t1_j4nca32 wrote

Quality doesn’t really correlate with how much maintenance. Many “lower quality” leathers actually usually require less maintenance because they’re tanned with more chemicals (or are coated with coatings) that retain moisture better than your regular high quality veg tan. You might have less folding, but you’ll get plenty of UV, water, salt, sweat, etc., on a bag.

But in any event, beefy nylon is very durable - the only major weakness is tearing.

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F-21 t1_j4otn5p wrote

> Quality doesn’t really correlate with how much maintenance. Many “lower quality” leathers actually usually require less maintenance

Isn't that a correlation?

Anyway, what is high quality and what is low quality? I was not talking about quality tiers?

Afaik quality of something is an attribute of it, and maintenance frequency is one of the qualities that leather can have.

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regaphysics t1_j4ovlep wrote

There are high quality leather products that require a lot of maintenance, and low quality leather that requires little maintenance. If there’s any correlation, it’s weak.

Generally leather quality is based on the quality of the hide (what part of the hide, what weather conditions the cows lived in, what scars they had, etc.), the type of leather (full grain, corrected grain etc), thickness, and the quality of the tanning.

Yes you can judge leather by the amount of maintenance it requires, but you’d be eliminating many of the better options in other metrics.

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