Is Leather Breathable? What the Measurements Show and How to Buy for Comfort

Yes. Real leather absorbs, stores and passes water vapor, the basis of its comfort in shoes. How well it breathes depends on the finish and density. Lightly finished leather breathes well, while dense sole leather and heavy coatings let almost nothing through.

Plastic-coated materials usually breathe far less. In one older shoe trial, calf leather let through about 7.4 mg/cm²/h of vapor, against about 0.05 for PVC-coated cotton. This page is part of our hub on leather properties and uses.

How leather breathes

"Breathable" here means water vapor from sweat can move into and through the material. Leather does this through its network of fibers. A Bayer AG paper published by Leather International says leather can absorb up to 25% of its dry weight in water without feeling damp.

That storage is part of the comfort. Leather soaks up vapor while you wear it and passes it on. It's also why leather holds on to smells.

Breathability by leather type and finish

The SATRA figures come from an older journal paper whose online text is partly garbled, so treat them as approximate. The units are metric only because that's how the tests report them.

For the wider trade-offs, see faux leather vs real leather.

What makes leather breathe less

• Heavy finishes and coatings. Different finishes vary hugely, and coatings are often worse because more product goes on.
• Closed waterproofing. It cuts vapor uptake and flow drastically. "Open" waterproofing keeps vapor moving but stops the leather absorbing liquid water. More in is leather waterproof?
• Care products that leave a film. The Bayer paper says care products shouldn't contain film-forming components, or they can seal the surface. Test any product on a hidden spot first.
• The lining. A jacket breathes only as well as all its layers. Polyester resists absorbing moisture, while cotton is a breathable textile.

Is leather good to wear in hot weather?

For shoes and accessories, breathability helps. A footwear study found that the upper's vapor permeability strongly affects how much sweat builds up, and wearers felt more discomfort as sweat increased.

A leather jacket is still a jacket, though. Breathing lets vapor out; it doesn't make the jacket cool. Choose a lighter build and a breathable lining or none at all. Leather Collection's custom jacket, for example, offers no lining, cotton or polyester. To compare leather with textiles, see common jacket materials.

How to pick a breathable leather item

1. Look for a light finish. Aniline leather has no pigment in its finish, and semi-aniline has only a little. Suede and nubuck have an open, napped surface.
2. Be wary of high gloss and plastic feel. Patent leather is coated.
3. Read the label. Under FTC guidance, non-leather that looks like leather should be disclosed with words like "Imitation leather" or "Vinyl".
4. Check the lining. It matters as much as the leather.

If you want to set the finish and lining yourself, the Leather Collection custom leather jacket offers aniline, semi-aniline, suede and nubuck finishes and a choice of lining.

FAQ

What breathes better, suede or leather?

We found no measurement comparing them directly. Suede has open pores, and coatings are what cut breathability most. So suede is likely to breathe at least as well as coated smooth leather. See leather vs suede.

Can you wear leather on a rainy day?

Yes, but wet leather loses its insulation and is slow to dry. See wearing leather in the rain, and does leather shrink? for drying it safely.

Is synthetic leather breathable?

Some is. It depends on construction: porous types breathe, impermeable ones don't. Older trials found PVC-coated fabric let through very little vapor.