Restoration Hardware Furniture

I went into a Restoration Hardware store on Monday in the local mall while my wife was in Banana Republic as I wanted to go check out their leather furniture since its very 'trendy' and many people think its the hot licks. Why? I don't know.....because what they are putting out and selling to the customer reminds me of those $ 200 jeans they sell to the hipsters that are already shredded with holes all put in them. I was stunned at how lousy it looked, and poorly executed. If this showed up out of the box and my store from a supplier, I'd be on the phone mad as a hornet and giving my supplier the 'what for'. Now, you can take the Casco Bay approach and say "Well, sure - Duane here is going to trash them because he's trying to sell us Hancock & Moore, he's a competitor". I get that. But on the other hand, what if I showed you some photos, told you how it supposed to be done and then YOU decide for yourself if this is future landfill material or something that will give you a lifetime of service and look good doing it? Usually I'm not so bold as to take photos in another retail store, but I had my iPhone with me and I couldn't resist. What made it worse was there was a couple there discussing among themselves about buying the sofa and it was all I could do to stay quiet and not say anything to them about what they were going to spend their money on, but I could barely contain myself...lol.

Let's take a look at some of the glaring faults on their floor models that really jump out at me. This is only what I can see from standing over the pieces, too. If I could flip 'em over and explore the inside from the bottom I'd have a whole lot more to write about. Tell ya what, use your own eyes and common sense when shopping and spending your hard-earned dollars. Put aside the fact that Restoration Hardware is supposed to be 'cool' and look things over with a critical eye before you buy - pick up on things such as I detail here, they're right here in front of you if you look and it doesn't require a formal education in furniture to see this. This is not meant to be a Restoration Hardware bash - this are the things you look for, its educational. If this were a $ 599 Costco Sofa, then O.K.....but its not. For what they charge for these pieces, you can go to most any furniture store and get a better piece for same money. Just sayin'.....

I have to say i was really stunned. I expected better. Babbled on to my wife about it for at least 15 minutes afterwards! On the positive side, it made me feel really good about the product my suppliers put out.

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Duane,

Very informative post and I appreciate your time to write it. The details that you pointed out are invisible to the untrained eye. This is currently the only forum I belong to where I can actually feel myself get smarter while reading.

Thanks! First and foremost, this has always been an 'educational' forum, not a sales tool - so I like to try to do this so the person buying things can learn and make good decisions about their purchases. And I realize that after posting the RH review, we need a couple of photos of how tufting is done right, so I took two shots of pieces in my store and added comments. As far as the loose leather and collapsed cushions on the HR pieces, I think most folks can readily see that for themselves.

Here's how tufting is done right - and just as a point of interest, the 'Tufters' are the highest paid and most skilled people in an upholstery plant. They are the most experienced workers and it takes years of apprenticeship to get one of those coveted positions. At H&M, in the main leather building, there are six men at the tufting stations. It will take the better part of two whole work days to do one mid-size sofa, per man - just on the tufting operation. It's costly to do it right, which is why you see so many bad tufts on inferior pieces. Sometimes the 'other guys' don't have employees skilled enough and other times they may not want to spend the labor dollars to make them properly.

One other point I wanted to make, see how 'loose' the leather is on the Restoration Hardware pieces and how 'tight' it is on the H&M ones (you can see this on the two arms on each chair)? That's HUGE in the leather business. Pulling leather tight is hard work, and believe it or not, it's the number one reason the guys at H&M move to easier jobs in the factory as the years go by. It's a young man's game and when they get older after a lifetime of leather pulling, their joints just won't let them do it like they used to be able to do. Tight pulls make a difference.

Now you know!


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The markup on the RH furniture has to pay for those 17 lb catalogs they shipped!

I don't get the appeal either. RH leather looks dried out and worn. The seats are too deep and cushions look like they're stuffed with an old down pillow - not much support.

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Originally Posted by drcollie

If this were a $ 599 Costco Sofa, then O.K.....but its not. For what they charge for these pieces, you can go to most any furniture store and get a better piece for same money. Just sayin'.....

I have to say i was really stunned. I expected better. Babbled on to my wife about it for at least 15 minutes afterwards! On the positive side, it made me feel really good about the product my suppliers put out.

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I was in a Restoration Hardware store on Saturday. Fancy store in a hiiigh end mall. Checked out their Maxwell sofa because it was deep. She said that the sofa was designed by an artist!

And this is why it's taking me forever to find a quality sofa! Thank you for the educational moment, Duane!