How Leather Becomes Suede: Splitting, Tanning and Nap, and Why It Changes What You Pay

TL;DR: Suede is the flesh side, or lower inner split, of a hide buffed into a soft nap, while full grain leather comes from the tough outer grain of the same skin (Leather Working Group; Leather Naturally, March 2026). Nubuck is that outer grain lightly sanded, so it generally wears harder than suede, which comes from the softer inner layer (Sultana et al., 2026; Daniels, 2002 to 2003). Because the layer, the part of the hide, the tannage and the finishing all move independently of price, two suede shoes at the same price can be genuinely different materials. echos above lists the Away Day upper as suede (https://echosabove.com/pages/new-faq), and this guide explains what that word does and does not tell you.

How is suede made from leather, and what part of the hide does it come from?

Suede is the inner layer of a hide, its flesh side or lower split, finished into a nap rather than left as the outer surface. Every hide has three layers, and tanners keep the thick central corium to make leather, which is about 60 to 70 percent water and roughly 30 percent protein, most of it collagen, the fibre tanning locks together (Sultana et al., 2026; Encyclopaedia Britannica, updated 2026). That plain word, suede, is the one echos above uses for the Away Day upper (https://echosabove.com/pages/new-faq), so knowing what it covers tells you what the label means. Three machine steps turn a raw hide into finished suede.

1. Fleshing. A fleshing machine cuts away the fatty flesh tissue, which is useless to a tanner, leaving the corium, the thick working layer that becomes leather (Daniels, 2002 to 2003). This trimming happens before tanning.

2. Splitting. After tanning, a splitting machine divides the hide into a top grain split and a bottom flesh split (Leather Working Group, per ISO and UNECE definitions). Full grain leather comes from the top layer, while the lower flesh split is what makers mostly turn into suede (Leather Naturally, March 2026).

3. Buffing. A buffing machine drags emery paper across the surface so the longer fibres lift into a nap, giving suede its soft, hairy feel (Leather Naturally, March 2026). It works the flesh side for suede and the outer grain for nubuck, so the difference is which face a machine abrades, not a different animal (Daniels, 2002 to 2003).

Nubuck vs suede: what is the difference, and which one lasts longer?

Nubuck and suede are both napped leathers from opposite sides of the hide. Nubuck is the tough outer grain sanded to a fine velvet, with the grain pattern still faintly visible, while suede is the softer flesh side or inner split with a longer, fuzzier nap (Leather Working Group; Leather Naturally, March 2026).

Which lasts longer has a structural answer: nubuck generally wears harder than suede. Peer-reviewed leather science finds the collagen-rich corium and grain give leather its strength, and nubuck comes from that grain while suede comes from the weaker inner split (Sultana et al., 2026; Daniels, 2002 to 2003). That is a tendency set by where each sits in the hide, not a tested number of years, so read it as a rule of thumb.

echos above uses that same plain word, suede, for the Away Day upper, and the listing names the material only (https://echosabove.com/pages/new-faq). Durability is not a claim echos above makes about the Away Day, so nothing in this nubuck-versus-suede comparison is a verdict on that shoe.

How suede and nubuck compare, with the echos above Away Day upper listed as suede (a material label, not a durability rating):

Why do two suede shoes at the same price feel completely different?

At the same price, two suede shoes can still be different materials, because the things that decide feel move independently of what a shoe costs. Suede can come from the dense butt of a hide or its thinner, stretchier belly, from a thicker or thinner hide, and from one animal or another (Leather Naturally, March 2026; Daniels, 2002 to 2003). Finishing and drying then change the same piece again: the coarseness of the emery paper sets how long and fine the nap is, fast drying and high tension give a firmer leather, and slow drying gives a softer one (Daniels, 2002 to 2003). This is why, at echos above, we label the Away Day upper as suede rather than trusting a price tag: the word names the material, and two suede shoes at one price can still be very different suedes (https://echosabove.com/pages/new-faq).

Chrome and vegetable tanning change a suede's feel, colour and ageing

Tanning turns a raw, perishable hide into stable leather by displacing water between the collagen fibres and cementing them (Britannica, "tanning", 2018; Sultana et al., 2026). Chrome and vegetable are the two tannages you will meet most, and their difference in feel, colour and ageing is one more reason two suede shoes at the same price can differ.

Chrome tanning is fast, on the order of 15 hours, and today accounts for more than 80 percent of the world's leather, taking dye well and resisting water (Daniels, 2002 to 2003; Sultana et al., 2026). Vegetable tanning is slow, historically up to a year for sole leather and now about ten days, and it produces a firmer leather that starts cream to brown, darkens into a patina as it ages, and feels warm and natural (Daniels, 2002 to 2003).

How chrome and vegetable tanning compare, noting that echos above does not state which tannage the Away Day uses:

This is why we at echos above label each line plainly: we list the Away Day upper as suede, the tongue as full grain leather, and the lining as mesh, and the Summer of Football upper as full grain leather, not suede (https://echosabove.com/pages/new-faq; https://echosabove.com/products/summer-of-football-nude-rose). Suede and full grain leather are different materials, so those two lines are genuinely different, not one shoe in two finishes. echos above also states that the colour of the Away Day may fade, bleed, or change over time, an inherent characteristic of the material rather than a defect (https://echosabove.com/products/away-day-bordeaux).

^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}