Printed Leather Samples

Product Description

Printed leather samples are a great way to test the waters for your next leathercrafting project. Order leather fabric sample prints in either Quarter Letter or Half Letter (approximately) and experience the look and feel of our leather range for yourself. Perfect for experimenting with our new and expanding leather range before choosing one and placing your full order.

Care instructions

Always test an offcut or sample prior to working the leather with tools, adhesives or heat. To ensure the leather print on your product is as durable as possible, we’ve worked hard refining our printing process and craftsmanship. Repeated turning or working may affect the digital print, always test your processes on a sample first. As leather is a natural material you may notice small differences in surface and texture, as well as wrinkles, which is common to products made from natural leather. All leathers age naturally according to the usage, and this can cause the print to wrinkle or fade slightly over time. It is possible the base colour may show through the leather as it ages with wear. When not in use we recommend storing your product in a protective dust bag or box to keep your product looking its best. Avoid prolonged exposure to extreme heat, sunlight, water, and chemical cleaners to maintain a bright and long-lasting print. Avoid contact with light coloured fabrics or upholstery as the colour may transfer. Whilst a light rain shower is unlikely to harm, we recommend protecting from rain. Should your product get wet, allow to dry naturally away from direct heat. To clean surface wipe only with a damp lint free cotton cloth.

How it works

Upload your design

We automatically apply your design to the product you selected

Make it perfect

Use our smart tools to get it exactly right and select the finishing options

Preview & checkout

Confirm your designs with our 3D previews and checkout with confidence

1-2 Days Production

Sit back and relax. Your product is on its way!

We offer discounts

We offer discounts on all our products, including bulk, quantity and student discounts. Enjoy great deals whether you're a small business, designer, or student.

Bulk Orders New	Wholesale	Students
Bulk Orders New Custom Quotation Bulk Quote	Up to 44% Find out more	Up to 0% Find out more

Shipping time & costs

Help

Order leather fabric sample prints and see what your design will look like when you order in large scale. Design leather samples to see an approximately Half or Quarter Letter size print of your work, on your chosen leather. Ideal if you want to view it as a miniature, or if you are looking to have your printed leather sample show a cross section of your final piece.

Try out multiple different types of leather and see which one you feel makes your design really stand out, to give you the perfect finished piece. Available in approximately Half or Quarter Letter size, depending on the scale and level of detail that you require. You can order printed leather samples using the exact same professional methods that we use on every single leather print, large or small.

Half Letter - 5.8 x 8.3"
Quarter Letter - 4.1 x 5.8"

You can order your leather fabric sample prints in either portrait or landscape orientation.

Leather Types

There are numerous leather types available for you to use to design leather samples:

Soft White Nappa - textured (0.03"-0.04")
Soft White Nappa - smooth (0.06")
Bubble texture Nappa (0.06")
Fine French Calf (0.05"-0.06")
Leather Board (0.08")
Double Butt (0.09"-0.1")

Print Guideline

What's the best resolution to print in?

We print at 200dpi, which is a good combination of quality and file weight. Ideally, your image should be scaled to 100% at 200dpi; this means that no resizing of your file occurs, preventing any interpolation. Our design interface will have a quality marker next to the design that you have uploaded, this will change color using a traffic light system and display a message. The message will let you know if the resolution is too low or if you have a good quality image.
How will my image scale?

When you upload your design our system will automatically scale it to fit your chosen fabric dimensions. In the ‘Product Options’ tab, the displayed dimensions under ‘Print Size’ will show the dimensions of the piece of fabric that you are ordering. For image/design dimensions you need to see the ‘Images & Text Tools’ tab. You can see and edit the dimensions of the image under the quality information next to the thumbnail.
Which color model should I choose? RGB or CMYK?

We advise providing images in the RGB color space. Specifically using the sRGB image profile, to achieve best color results. What does this mean? In your editing software, choose RGB as the working space and assign the image profile as sRGB (full name sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
Maximum dimensions

For most of our fabrics, there is no limit on the length of the fabric that you can order. We have a preview design window set up to 10 yds max to visualize the print, but that's not a print limit. If you'd like to order more, increase the quantity (x2 for 20 yds or x4 for 40 yds for e.g.) and then you can order as much as you'd like, with a built in automatic volume discount too. The maximum print width of each fabric can be found on the individual fabric pages or in our design interface.
Do I need to incorporate white space within my design if I want a border or some cutting space?

Yes, that might help you! Always incorporate any extra space or borders into your purchased fabric size. We trim squarely around fabric samples and fabric prints, leaving approximately 0.2" white space. Cutting neatly on the line has an additional fee.
What is crocking and why might it occur?

Crocking, which is fading along the creases, often after washing or heavy use, occurs when you digitally print on natural fabrics - more so when dark or dense colors are used. It can be minimized by using a cool hand wash instead of machine washing as the tumbling of the machine is the main cause of this. To avoid entirely, we would advise using a poly fabric.
Why do the colors appear lighter on organic fabrics?

Our organic fabrics do not have any coatings that the non-organic fabrics have. This means the ink absorbs into the fibers, reducing the color strength slightly (by approx. -40%). For super strong colors we recommend a non-organic natural fabric.

Do you print on fabric a customer supplies?

Unfortunately not; we like to test meticulously so that we know what gets the best results on our fabrics, and our facilities cater perfectly to them. We do however print sublimation transfer paper to order, and if you have access to a heat press you can press your own fabrics easily.
Should I save my file as a TIFF or JPEG?

For multi-colored or very detailed files we recommend using a tiff format, but they must be flattened. For simple colors and low detail files, a jpeg is fine.
What is the situation with material shrinkage?

Just like many fabric printing processes, there is the potential for shrinkage. Depending on the fabric, please expect and allow between 2-8% shrinkage which you need to plan for in your dimensions. This percentage can vary from print run to print run and between fabrics, so we would advise to order a little more material than you require for your project.
Can I print on both sides of the fabric?

We do not offer to print on both sides of the fabric, as a lot of our fabrics are semi-transparent or have some show through. This wouldn't work with double-sided printing. This is not a service that we offer on any of our fabrics.
Can I order labels in another fabric? Will you cut them like you do with the normal fabric labels?

At the moment no, our labels are all printed on the same satin fabric. We may introduce more in the future, but for now, this is the best choice. The labels are all cut the same way. You can order the fabric of your choice and make the labels yourself, but we do not cut different fabric into label format.
How is your fabric printing eco-friendly?

With environmental consciousness in mind, our fabrics are all printed using completely water-based inks. This means no chemicals or solvents are used. Our heat fixing procedure fixes the colors and prints, avoiding the downsides of steaming, such as excess or contaminated water returning into the waste system. We have one facility where we conduct all the printing, production and fulfillment. Rather than roll the fabrics, or send them in a tube, we fold them before they are sent out to you. This saves over 150 tubes a week, as well as a lot of space on the delivery van. (For delicate fabrics we ensure to package appropriately).
Why are there slight color differences between my orders?

We work at improving our color profiles all the time. Though rare, it may happen that from one print run to another, and there could be slight color differences, this is normal and part of the process when we are constantly improving. It is extremely unlikely that there will be a huge difference (like orange instead of red for example). Please bear in mind such color variations can be intensified from fabric to fabric due to the varying grains and textures of the fabric. This is due to the construction of the materials as well as the print methods that have to be altered slightly for more delicate, natural textiles.

Sizing For Hemming And Shrinkage

We have a full Cut & Sew service here at Contrado, and are able to hem your fabric prints for a small additional charge. We create a small one- or two-fold hem that typically uses 0.2" to 0.75" (5-20mm) of material, depending on the thickness of the fabric. So, for example, if you want a finished piece of fabric that measures 39.37" x 39.37", you will need to order a size of 39.96" x 39.96" to allow for the hem (on top of that please also allow for shrinkage of min 2%). The thicker the fabric, the bigger the hem will be. You can choose to have your prints hemmed with either Black or White thread. On our silk and other light woven fabrics, one hemmed edge will be straight (vertically down the roll) and the other will be slightly rippled. The hemming material allowances are as follows and you need to make your print bigger to accommodate the hem:

Light Fabrics (0.59oz-2.95oz): For silks and other light fabrics, we use 0.24" - 0.32" / 6mm-8mm in the hem (2 fold), so overall width/height will be minus 0.48"-0.56""/ 12-16mm
Medium Fabrics (2.98oz-5.90oz): For medium-weight fabrics that fray, we use 0.5 - 0.75" / 15-20mm in the hem (2 fold) so overall width/height will be minus 1.4" - 1.6" / 35-40mm
Stiff/Heavy/No-fray fabrics: we use 0.5 - 0.75" / 15-20mm in the hem (1 fold) so overall width/height will be minus 1.5" / 35-40mm

All of these measurements are approximate and can vary. Including with shrinkage, it can mean a fairly significant difference to ordered dimensions, so please plan your print accordingly. Depending on how open the weave is, our fabric can shrink anywhere from 2% to 8% with the average being 2.5%.

How Would you Like the Edge?

We have four finishing options for your fabric order:

As it comes. We cut around your image, leaving a simply scissor cut, perhaps uneven white fabric border.
Hem with thread. We can hem your fabric with a choice of black or white thread. Please allow 1-2 days additional production time. See below for information on how hemming affects the size of your print. We offer an overlock hem, as well as a folded hem (one or two fold depending on the fabric) however not all fabrics are suited to both hem types. If you can see both options, it means both are suitable, and you will be able to choose whichever you prefer.
Cut on the line. We will cut neatly on the edge of your design. This means that if you have a border around your design we will cut around that border, if your design takes the whole space of the fabric, then we will neatly cut around the edge of that image. Please be aware, when we cut along the line, we have to cut against the grain of the fabric. This is the standard procedure for fabric cutting. This means that with some fabrics, for example, Georgette and Mulmul, which have a slight wave in them, some fraying will occur. This is unavoidable, as the cut follows the grain of the textile.

All of our fabrics are cut manually by hand, with the utmost care and attention. If your fabric has a slightly uneven look on the edges or a touch of fraying, this does not indicate a flaw in the textile. It is not always possible to achieve a perfectly straight cut with certain fabrics, so please do bare this in mind when it comes to your design. If you have any queries or would like to know about our cutting methods in more detail, please get in touch and we will be more than happy to discuss them with you.

Please note: As we make everything by hand, all sizes may vary slightly.

For further information about our fabrics see our FAQs.

Will these be different to my finished piece?

We make your Half or Quarter Letter sized leather fabric sample prints in exactly the same way that we would print any of your leather orders. That way you can be sure that the quality, detail, and textures that you see on your tests prints are what you can expect from your final print.

Which way round does my design need to go?

Our design interface will default to a landscape orientation, however, depending on your design you can easily change this to landscape at the click of a button - ideal for if you are printing a cross section of your piece as you design printed leather samples.

What sizes do they come in?

Your printed leather samples are available in approximate Half or Quarter Letter size. Half Letter is 5.8 x 8.3" and Quarter Letter is 4.1 x 5.8".

Choose Region

From $22.95

Explore our