the regular quilted stams are made with calfskin as opposed to patent leather. aside from the shinier finish and more wrinkled texture, the material itself is sort of stretchy, which makes sense since it's supposed to be elasticized. the leather on the quilted stams are thicker and the color more matte. i prefer the look of the original stams, but the elastic style comes in richer colors like plum and emerald. hth!