This is the single most common disappointment in custom leather patches, and it is entirely predictable before anyone spends any money.

What the laser is actually doing

It is not depositing ink or pigment. It is removing and scorching the top layer of the leather.

The colour of your logo is therefore the colour of burnt leather, and how visible it is depends entirely on how different that is from the leather around it.

Why pale vegetable-tanned hide works

Veg-tan starts pale and scorches to a deep, warm brown. That is a large contrast, so the mark reads from a distance and photographs well.

It also darkens further with handling over time, which most people like.

Why black fails and chrome-tanned disappoints

On black leather the burn is a marginally different black. There is nothing for the eye to catch.

Chrome-tanned leather burns grey rather than brown, and gives off an acrid smell doing it. It never reaches the contrast of veg-tan whatever the machine settings.

What to do instead

Deboss it. A heated die presses the mark in physically, and you read it by the shadow in the recess rather than by any colour change, which works perfectly on black.

Or keep the engraving and change the hide to a pale one, with the rest of the product in your brand colour. Both are cheap decisions if made before the order.