Printable View
Duane:
I see there is a brief comparison in your post above re: BY- Leathercraft. Since Leathercraft is trying to go after some H&M market share, can you ouline the plusses/minuses, differences/similarities between those two companies? Since you own their pieces and have lived with their pieces and H&M pieces, I'm sure you'll have a helpful personal opinion also. Thanks.
I was a Leathercraft Dealer long before I was one for Hancock and Moore. I also own pieces from both in my own home (as well as Bradington Young).
Hancock and Moore is the King of the Carolina leather houses, no one else is even close. They do everything right, from building the product to design to the the best hides, the best workers, the best dealer support, the quickest production times and the best customer service. They are the gold standard.
Leathercraft is a much smaller company. They build a very high quality product, in fact I try hard to find weakness to compare and contrast Leathercraft and H&M side by side and find none. Top flight components on both, crisp tailoring, excellent workmanship. I'll can them equals in product and build quality (I'm sure the execs at each of those companies might disagree!).
Leathercraft does not have as deep a product line, H&M builds everything under the sun. However Leathercraft tends to build slightly smaller scale furniture and in particular has a few pieces aimed towards a woman's smaller size than a man and that gives them a niche that H&M does not really service.
There are a few Leathercraft products that are NOT comfortable. I'm a bit more cautious ordering blind from them than H&M (every H&M piece that comes through my store seems to sit well, and I try them all out prior to delivery).
Leathercraft does not have as many leathers to choose from, nor the sales materials to hand out to the customer that H&M does.
Only H&M stands alone in having an 'unofficial' policy of repairing any piece they make, no matter how old it is if you return it to them. I had a Leathercraft customer who sat on his expensive Chesterfield with a sharp screwdriver in his pocket and cut a 6" gash in the leather of the tufted seat. Local upholstery shops would not touch that nor would Leathercraft repair his 5 year old sofa. My customer liked it so much however, that he ordered a new one exactly like the old and it cost him $ 5,300. Had that sofa been a Hancock and Moore, they would have recovered the seat (assuming they could match the hide) for under $ 1,000. That's nice to know you have that option.
I have a Leathercraft 2670 sofa in my Family Room, and would order it again. Next to it sits a Hancock and Moore Sadler recliner in a lighter leather, so you can see I would buy either for myself.
Leathercraft knows it has a hard time competing with H&M on price promotions, so this October sale is an attempt to get aggressive, but who knew the market timing could be so bad?
Duane,
This thread began in 2008. It's 2012, so do you still have the same opinion of LeatherCraft and H&M? Any new observations, quality changes, or experiences with them now? Have any other leather furniture manufacturers moved into the top tier?
The furniture industry changes course about as often as an cruise ship. Its slow and deliberate. No changes in the above statement to speak of, and no new players at the high end. If anything, Classic Leather which used to be a top tier company slipped to second tier as it abandoned solid wood frames in favor of industry-standard plywood. And Bradington Young gave up its own frame plant in 2011, though I've not seen any differences in the product coming through.
Duane,
So I have a Leathercraft Chesterfield Sleeper Sofa (87" wide) covered in leather. It needs to be recovered and when I called around to get a quote, it was $2,900, not including the leather! I love the sofa and have gotten at least 25 years use out of it, so I'm planning to order a replacement sofa this week. I've found a Leathercraft sofa (without the sleeper, since I no longer need that) that is 88" wide (this sofa, but in the 88" width: http://leathercraft-furniture.com/in...churchill_sofa) and it appears identical to my sofa.
Question, should I expect the same quality of my 25 year old Leathercraft sofa? If not, does Hancock & Moore (or any other quality manufacturer) make an identical-looking sofa (I like a tufted seat with a fixed cushion) and it needs to be at least 87" wide? I've found Leathercraft's pricing to be all over the map based on which dealer is quoting me; is that normal? Is Hancock & Moore more expensive or should I consider it?
Many thanks for your guidance. Your forum/website are great.
Leathercraft builds a high-quality product, though in the past they had more cracks in in their quality control than I like to see and I dropped the line several years ago due largely to that issue. Still, that particular sofa is something they do well, as does Hancock and Moore. While pricing varies dealer-to-dealer, they run about the same as Hancock and Moore.
Hancock and Moore builds the # 8173 model which is 87" in length, but they don't photograph it. Instead you have to look at the photo of their 77" unit:
http://www.hancockandmoore.com/Produ...sterfield-Sofa
and one of the most handsome sofas we have ever had come through my store:
http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...highlight=8172
Thank you for the information. Sounds like Hancock & Moore has something that could work. I'll ask for a price quote for the sofa below through your price quote forum.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drcollie