Really? But they describe their leather as vegetable tanned full-grain leather? It can't have a coating otherwise it would be false advertisement, to me, its unlikely they would claim veg tanned if its not veg tanned. Did you ask them about this? Did you ask their costumer service? Did you lodge a complaint? Just curious!
Yes, I've been in contact with one of the owners of Woolnut actually. He told me that from early 2020 they've changed to their "pebbled" leather and with that also "a change in the tanning process".
He didn't address my claims of the leather having a PU coating though. But since I own one of their cases from 2019 I can easily compare the leather. In 2019 it was definitely a good leather. I even used it as a good example when I made a post a while back about the iPhone 13 Decoded case which also is PU coated leather now. I got the Decoded case when I first got the iPhone 13 but I quickly realized it wasn't what they promised.
So since I knew what leather Woolnut (had) used I pre-ordered the iPhone 13 case expecting it to be the same. But that wasn't true. Things that make me sure of it having a PU coating are:
- after over a month it still looks brand new, no signs of any patina or wear.
- it hard to scratch and scratches have the exact same color as the coating. The previous Woolnut case got a lighter color in the scratches which could then be rubbed away, more or less.
- if I put some drops of water on it they weren't absorbed into the leather. After 15-20 they were still sitting there on top of the coating. That doesn't happen with uncoated leather (unless it's oiled leather boots).
- photos taken with a microscope clearly show how the coating has melted and oozed up around where they had put their branding. In real leather it's just indents. See the attached photos comparing the top left part of the Woolnut W on the back of the 2019 iphone XR case and the iphone 13. The right photo show how the branding (with a serif on the W) on the 2019 case has been stamped into the leather leaving beveled sharp edges as expected when stamping leather. The left photo shows the iPhone 13 case where the branding has been stamped, probably using heat, into the coating. The edges are uneven and excess coating has accumulated around the edges.
So yeah, I'm pretty sure it's coated. I didn't bother with returning the case because it is in other aspects still better than the Decoded case and I hadn't found anything to replace it with.
...until today when I got a Wiiuka case (mentioned a couple of times earlier in this thread)! It's a fantastic case really, compared to Decoded and Woolnut. Smooth nubuck leather with a great smell and I just know it will get nice patina even though I've only used it for eight hours. More about that later...
