A friend of mine just had her recliner re-upholstered. She showed me a leftover piece of the "leather". It’s very strange. The leather is very light weight and looks like it is very thin and somehow applied to a thin black foam backing. No kind of hide visible. It has square edges like a piece of cloth fabric and it was rolled up. I’m no expert but I’m concerned about what my friend actually purchased. She said the cost was $50. a yard. Can anyone tell me if my friend purchased leather; if so is it a quality product?
Sounds a lot like bonded leather to me, but again I'm not an expert
Its not leather is why....she bought a fabric that looks like leather, or a vinyl product. Leathers is not sold by the yard, its sold by the hide or square foot. Only fabric and vinyl is sold by the yard. Sounds like she didn't understand what she was buying.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Thank you Mr. Collie for your response and how quickly you responded. Now I'm in a "pickle" as to whether to tell her or not. It's kind of like telling someone their boyfriend has cheated on them. She might be mad at me for butting in and spoiling her happiness.
Bycast leather is sold on a roll just like fabric. The last wholesale price I saw for bycast leather was $5.00 per yard. (That makes the retail price about $15 per yard in most places.)
Jeff Frank
www.simplicitysofas.com
That Bycast is nasty stuff. The only country in the world its allowed to be sold as 'leather' is the USA. Every other country forbids it being called 'leather'.
When I was at the H&M factory, I noticed all the scrap leather in hundreds of barrels and I asked what they did with it? When they get enough of it, they sell a container or two of it to China, where its chemically melted into a slurry, then screened on polypropylene sub-sheets, embossed and painted, then sold as a ByCast Leather. Once the leather is 'melted' chemically, it loses its natural cellulose bond and natural strength.
Bradington Young sells it as their Grade 1 leather, and everytime they send me samples I throw them in the trash. I'm not selling any of my customers ByCast.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.