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A closer look at LG's embrace of leather (pictures)

LG is pushing leather as its premium material of choice. Take a look at the process of developing the material for the smartphone.

Cho Mu-hyun
Cho Mu-hyun is a native of South Korea living in Seoul and working for ZDNet Korea as a senior writer covering Samsung, LG, Hyundai, SK and the Korean conglomerates, or chaebols, in general.
Cho Mu-hyun
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Eat your vegetables

 The leather cases on the LG G4 were "vegetable tanned," which means they were lathered with vegetable dye to help the leather withstand humidity.

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"Breathable" leather

 LG said it only used high-quality cowhides, which it said has 0.001 micrometer (one millionth of a meter) pores that allowed the leather to "breathe."

The company said the leather ventilates well and won’t spoil from long use.

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Frayed not

A process called "edge coating" was also used, which prevents the leather fraying at the edges. This helps guard against minor scratches as well as damage from water splashes.

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A long time coming

Each leather back covers takes 12 weeks to produce, over 10 times longer than the four days for non-leather case counterparts. It's the same process used to prepare leather for luxury goods.

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Stitched up

The stitching on the rear casing is done with Mara-brand threading made by Germany's 150-year-old thread manufacturer, Gutermann.

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