As the name suggests, leather paints are specifically made for painting intricate and decorative designs onto all items of leather. If you need to repair an item of leather, you're best using one of our leather repair products.
In this blog, we are going to discuss the differences between two types of leather paint: Acrylic and Polyurethane.
Acrylic leather paint is formed when pigment is dissolved through a process called acrylic polymer emulsion.
Many of the well-known leather paints available are acrylic based and popular due to being strong, flexible and quick drying.
Acrylic-based paint is a much more traditional type of leather paint, and as such, more modern equivalents have been developed over the years. Based on polyurethane technology, these offer many benefits over acrylic leather paint:
Flexibility - Acrylic paint dries harder than polyurethane paint, making acrylic paint brittle and more prone to cracking and peeling.
Polyurethane paint is extremely flexible so will never crack, flake or peel, making for a more hard-wearing, resistant coating.
Whether you’re painting a design on to shoes, trainers, a jacket or even an item of furniture, you can be sure to know that a polyurethane leather paint will bend and flex with every crease and fold in the leather.
Drying Time - Although acrylic paint was created to have a faster drying time than oil-based paints, polyurethane paint dries even quicker.
Coverage - Acrylic paint provides a much lighter coverage than polyurethane paint so may require a primer before application.
Polyurethane paint has excellent coverage and provides great results in one application.
Our white leather paint covers black leather in one coat!
Application – Both leather paints can be applied with a sponge or paint brush.
Polyurethane paint can be used neat but can also be thinned with water so that you can apply them onto leather with an airbrush, allowing you to add more depth and a range of patterns to your designs.
Whereas acrylic paint is thicker and more difficult to spray with modern, high-volume, low-pressure airbrushes as they require higher pressure.
Appearance - Acrylic and polyurethane paint have very similar finishes. They offer a soft, delicate and natural look when applied to the surface of the leather.
Safe to use - Both types of leather paint tend to be water based and non-toxic, making them safe to use in all environments.
Acrylic paint is a traditional type of paint used by many popular brands and provide very good reason for their selection. However, water-based polyurethane paint also offers many comparable and competitive benefits with the help of newer and better technology, allowing for more flexibility, better coverage, faster drying times, better application and as a result, longevity.
Our Leather Paint has been specifically designed for use on all leather surfaces and are ideal for creating designs on shoes, trainers, clothing, furniture, car seats and more.
We offer a set of 12 standard colours that can be mixed to create any colour desired, and match every colour of leather: White, Black, Red, Yellow, Light Blue, Dark Blue, Turquoise, Green, Lime Green, Orange, Dark Brown, Medium Brown.
There are also metallic and neon colours available to enhance your artwork further.
These leather sneakers have been painted by one of out trade customers to create a bespoke design for his customers.
The leather on this baseball cap has been painted to match the embroided logo.
This portrait of a girl has been painted on to a leather jacket.
The image on the right shows a much smaller, but very detailed design that has been painted onto a leather satchel.
This customer has used our Leather Paint to paint and extremely intricate design over this entire leather sofa.
Leather Paint is primarily used for producing creative designs on leather items.
If you are looking to restore colour, repair colour loss or damage to leather you will need to use one of our leather repair products.
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