Buying and caring for leather furniture

“What’s on that sofa?”

“Hide.”

“What?”

“Hide. Hide. A cow’s outside.”

“Why, I’m not scared of a cow.”

OK, it is a stupid joke but I’ve always like it.

Where it comes from: All leather is a by-product of the meat and dairy industry. No animal died just to make your sofa. There’s a valid concern that it supports an industry that can be cruel to animals (by making it more economically viable) but it is not a direct cause of that industry. On the other hand, it is flexible, durable, ages well (I’ve seen 100 year old usable leather) and sustainable. Although the tanning process can be environmentally hazardous (especially if they use the traditional chromium process), it is changing significantly and need not be.
Since WWII, and the shortage of vegetable tannins, many skins are converted to leather with synthetic polymers, like Novolac or Neradol. These are variations of the same thermosetting resins used to created pool balls or circuit boards.

All leather is expensive (at least compared to other fabrics) so the industry has several methods it uses to keep down the costs. First, pretty much all leather is split. So it is possible to get full-grain leather, where the hair has been removed & it is buffed to remove some of the natural markings, but it is pretty uncommon and uncommonly expensive.

Top-grain leather is, not surprisingly, the outside of the skin and so it has a few more marks and scratches (barbed wire fences, etc.) which gives it a more rustic look. Split leather is the name for the underside of the skin and sometime more than one split can be obtained from a hide. If you see a suede that’s fuzzy on both sides, it is one of the middle layers.

Most leather is stained or dyed which helps provide a uniform color and hides the differences in the material/skin.

How it is used: So much for the product, on to the application. To keep costs down, there are some variations in leather furniture. There’s leather match or leather mate furniture, where it is leather on the seat and back (the parts you use) but vinyl on the sides. My experience is that leather and vinyl are colored in different ways and in time the colors shift and the two can start to look different from each other, so I’m not very fond of this type of furniture.

Then there is bi-cast (or bycast), where the leather gets a coating of vinyl (polyurethane) over the top. This gives the leather an extra shine, probably some extra durability and sometimes manufacturers can get by with stretching the leather a little thinner (or using a thinner split). At home, I’ve got a bi-cast loveseat that I’ve had for 10 years, so it doesn’t necessarily mean less durability.

Lastly, there’s bonded leather. This is a collection of leather scraps and fibers which are affixed to a coating of vinyl. Sometimes the vinyl is stamped with a pattern, to make it look more like a natural hide. It actually sounds worse than it is. The industry was concerned at first that bonded leather wouldn’t hold up and that customers would feel some differences between bonded leather and “real” leather. Turns out that sales of bonded leather have soared (maybe because it is so much cheaper) and there haven’t been any/many complaints about the durability of the product. It does tend to be a little more environmentally friendly in production.

Bottom line: You should know what you’re getting. It is OK to get any one of these products as long as it isn’t advertised as something it isn’t. My experience is that the manufacturing process is so good these days that it can be very difficult to tell the difference. I even have a hard time telling whether the product is vinyl or leather, because the quality of the vinyl products have improved so much.

Pros/Cons: As I’ve mentioned, nothing wears like leather. Although cat claws are sharp enough to scratch it, none of my dog’s claws have done any damage to mine. As it wears, it gets a more comfortable, broken-in look, unlike more traditional fabrics that just get worn out. On the other hand, some folks find leather to be cold when they first sit down on it. It is pretty impervious to the environment of the house but I have seen leather furniture that was set close to a fireplace (or wood stove) that let the leather dry out too much & it began to crack.

Care: Wash it with a soft soap like a glycerin-based soap, a saddle soap or Dr. Bronner’s to keep it clean. It is possible for body oils to stain leather and there have been some reports that bonded leather is especially liable to this problem. A paste of equal parts of cream of tartar and lemon juice have been recommended as a cleaner, just wash it off afterwards and dry it.