Screen printing in the workshop. This decorating technique is used on covers in a range of materials — this photograph does not show the synthetic material itself.

Synthetic Leather

by Ibrahim Anwar · August 23, 2026

Synthetic leather is a man-made material designed to resemble leather, almost always plastic-based: polyurethane (PU) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coated onto a fabric backing. It is cheap, uniform, waterproof, and used widely across the industry — including in part of our own catalogue. What needs correcting is not the material but its name: synthetic leather is often sold as “vegan leather”, when it is plastic.

What is in it

Most synthetic leather has two layers: a woven or knitted fabric backing, and a plastic layer on top, textured to resemble the pores of a hide.

PU (polyurethane) — more flexible, closer to leather in the hand, and more expensive than PVC. This is what we use when an order calls for a synthetic material.
PVC — stiffer and cheaper, common on folders and document covers. More scratch-resistant, but it feels distinctly like plastic.

Because the texture is printed, the pattern repeats. That is the quickest way to tell it from genuine leather, whose pores never repeat exactly.

Real advantages

The material is used widely because it genuinely solves several problems:

Consistency of colour and texture between units — important for an order of hundreds of books that must look identical.
Waterproof with no maintenance at all.
Cost far lower, so the budget can go into the paper, the sewing or the packaging instead.
Colour that can be very bright and matched exactly to a brand — something hard to achieve on vegetable-tanned leather.

Real disadvantages

No patina. It does not age into something better; it simply wears.
The coating can peel after a few years, particularly along the fold of the spine.
Hard to repair. Genuine leather can be reconditioned and resewn; a PU coating that has begun to peel is effectively beyond recovery.
Fossil-based. Both PU and PVC come from petrochemicals.

On the word “vegan”

Literally, synthetic leather does use no animal material. So many sellers market it as vegan leather, and technically they are not wrong. But the term leads a buyer to think they are getting a natural material, when what they are buying is plastic.

We choose to call it PU. Plant-based materials we call plant-based vegan leather, and we keep the two apart on the product page and in the quotation alike. A buyer is entitled to know which is which.

When we recommend it

Synthetic leather makes sense for high-volume corporate orders with a tight per-unit budget, for folders and document covers that must be waterproof, and for brand colours that cannot be achieved on tanned leather. For a book expected to last decades and to age well, we recommend full grain or vegtan.

FAQ

Is synthetic leather the same as vegan leather?

Synthetic leather uses no animal material, so it is often sold with a vegan label. But the material is plastic, not plant. If what you want is a plant-based material, ask for that specifically.

How long does a PU cover last?

It depends on use and on the quality of the coating. On a book carried every day, the coating along the fold of the spine usually shows wear first. That is not a manufacturing fault but a property of the material.

Can a book with a synthetic cover be repaired?

The text block and the sewing can be. A surface coating that has already peeled generally cannot be restored — the route available is to replace the cover. See our book repair service.