What does "full-grain" leather mean?

Full-grain leather refers to a quality of the leather used in leather goods. There are various types of quality - listed below in descending quality:

1. Full-grain: Full grain is the highest of quality. This leather is using the very top side of the hide (but not the skin itself), and is known for being breathable and resistant to breaking down, unlike other qualities of leather. At Symple Leather Co., only Full-grain leather is used to ensure longevity and uniqueness of each product.
2. Top-grain: This quality of leather is somewhat similar to full-grain, but the biggest difference is the top-side of the leather is sanded and a layer of finishing is added.
3. Genuine: This is commonly referred to as "Genuine Leather". This level of quality is essentially "everything else" combined together to make up a piece of leather. This includes gluing together scraps of leather grains together, sanding and adding a finishing on the top-side. This leather is the least durable and cheapest leather.

Worth mentioning - Repaired Leather: Some leather-workers repair leather and then use that leather to create new products. This is the equivalent of repairing fabric and then using that fabric to make a new t-shirt. Because repaired leather can vary (is the leather being repaired Full-grain vs Genuine), the quality is hard to bucket into one specific category.