It looks like leather, smells like leather, and feels like leather, but it may NOT BE LEATHER!
With the furniture industry's constant push to find cheaper, almost disposable products, shopping for leather has changed dramatically over the years. The newest addition on the market is bonded leather.
Is bonded leather really leather?
There are different types of bonded leather, but the type being used on upholstered furniture today is a polyurethane or vinyl product containing a small percentage of leather fibers in the product's backing material. Bonded leather, or reconstituted leather used in upholstered furniture is polyurethane backed with fabric and then backed with a layer of latex or other material mixed with some leather fibers (scraps). The leather content contained in bonded leather upholstery is about 17%. None of it is contained in the surface of the bonded leather. The polyurethane surface is stamped to give it a leather texture.
Although bonded leather is widely used in the industry, not all stores will honestly educate their customers on the type of leather used in their products offerings. Most likely, that beautiful leather sofa on special for $599. $699, or $799 is not really leather!!
Is the leather furniture I'm looking at covered entirely in leather? Maybe not? It could be vinyl?
What is vinyl match?
Vinyl match furniture is very common in the furniture industry and a vinyl-match product tends to be about 30% less than a similar all-leather product. Normally, with leather match, the portions of the product that are touched when sitting is 100% leather (seat and back cushion, and top of arms). The sides and back of the product are made of 100% vinyl, stamped and dyed to match the leather. Some consumers will choose vinyl match to save, however, retailers should always be honest about what is being sold.
One method of verifying if a product is manufactured as vinyl-match is to inspect the back of a coordinating sofa. Sofas and loveseats made with vinyl match will have one continuous piece on the back of the sofa. Since one hide would never realistically cover the back of a sofa, up to three seams will be noticeable on the back of a 100% leather sofa.
Bonded leather and vinyl match are not necessarily "bad" products. Both products are used in the industry to meet consumer demands at a specific price point. However, NOT ALL RETAILERS WILL BE HONEST ABOUT THE LEATHER USED IN THEIR PRODUCTS.
HOW TO COMBAT PRODUCT FRAUD:
Manufactures' literature and websites will normally be honest about whether their products include bonded leather or vinyl match, SO ALWAYS DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
At Feathers Furniture, we make our custom leather samples available for close inspection by the consumer. Through inspection of leather samples, consumers are able to compare each hide's thickness and see the reverse side of each leather. Manufacturers' samples clearly state the type of leather used.
Return to our LEATHER PRODUCTS PAGE:
