LEATHER FAQ

A hide of leather is approximately 50-60 square feet. The shape is irregular. Hides are typically about 8 feet in length down the backbone and 7 feet wide from belly to belly.

A 1/4 hide is approximately 12-14 square feet or roughly 3 feet by 4 feet at the longest points.

A 1/2 hide is approximately 25 square feet or roughly 7 feet by 4 feet at the longest points. 

The quantity of leather that is needed for an automotive interior depends on factors like type of car and what you want wrapped in leather. You could use as little as 2 hides in a regular cab pickup as opposed to 5 hides or more in a 4 door car. 

A typical bucket seat requires 3/4 of a leather hide. For two bucket seats, order 1.5 hides, or if a half hide is not available, round up to 2 hides. 

A bench seat requires 1.5 hides. This will be enough to also cover the rear of the bench seat. 

A dash requires a 1/2 hide of leather. We recommend you use our skiving service on leather you require for a dash. 

This greatly depends on how large the surface area is you want to cover. A 1/4 hide could be enough for small accents on four door panels. For full door panel wraps, a 1/2 hide would be required for two door panels. 

A typical Bronco interior requires four hides of leather. Four hides will cover two bucket seats, the rear seat, the dash, center console, door panels and rear quarter panels. 

Yes. Most of our Black Leather, Nappa Italia Leather and OEM Auto Leather Colors are available as a 1/4 hide.

No. We only sell the colors of woven leather that are listed on our website.

Upon receiving your leather, immediately unroll each hide and hang them around a cylinder the length of the backbone. This will remove any creases from shipping and will prevent further creases that may prove difficult to remove. 

Yes. All leather available on relicate.com is UV resistant and suitable for automotive upholstery. 

Automotive upholstery leather typically is 1.0mm-1.2mm thick. We offer services to make the leather thinner if you are wrapping complex shaped surfaces like dash pads and center consoles. View our skiving service on our website. 

Yes. Leather is a natural product, so every hide is unique and may contain natural characteristics such as healed scars, wrinkles, stretch marks, or variations in grain and texture. These are not defects, but rather evidence of the animal’s natural life and are part of what makes genuine leather distinctive. While we carefully inspect our hides to ensure they meet our quality standards, minor natural markings should be expected.

Yes, but not because we sell leather!  There are three primary reasons we recommend ordering a little extra leather: dye lot consistency, material estimates, and future repairs. The most important reason is dye lots. A dye lot is a single production batch of leather manufactured at one time. All the leather in the same dye lot matches. The next dye lot the manufacturer produces may not exactly match the previous. For this reason, if the upholsterer runs short on leather and needs more, there is a chance the additional leather will not be an exact match to the original order. That leads us to the second reason. Even experienced upholsterers occasionally underestimate how much leather a project will require, and it’s especially common for those newer to automotive upholster. Finally, having extra leather on hand can be invaluable if your interior ever needs to be repaired. Using leather from the original order gives you the best chance of achieving a seamless color and grain match.