Originally Posted by
drcollie
Don't be too hard on yourself - buying leather furniture is a lot like drinking fine wines, it a progressive experience to build a taste palette. If you were to hand a glass of a nice Cabernet Sauvignon to someone who has only ever had Boone's Farm then they are neither going to understand it or appreciate it. That takes time, and experience and even making it something of a hobby if you will. Collecting mechanical Swiss Watches is the same thing, and you will never convince someone who has a Citizen watch that a Rolex is worth the money. They have to discover that for themselves.
Leather furniture, indeed all furniture, really can be clumped into two broad categories:
1) Utility Duty
2) Fashion / Art
Within the Utility category - which is where most consumers shop - the goal is to get as good a quality as you can find for "X" amount of dollars. A budget is set and the search begins for most bang-for-the-buck. And most people will find they have to go beyond their original budget because they got used to seeing prices at Costco, Ashley, Bob's Discount, etc., for the true junk furniture of tremendously poor build quality. A little bit of sticker shock then usually occurs as they re-adjust their budgets. Most folks in this shopping category will use the furniture in their home as an appliance, and really want minimum care and maintenance. They want it to last, but they also don't want to spend any more than necessary. So gathering information and sorting the wheat from the chafe becomes the task to find which is best suited. Typically customers in this group will buy a base-grade leather.
Then we step it up a notch to Fashion, and this is where the fun begins. There is a degree of Art in furniture and even in the leathers used on the hides. Here we move past Utility to create something outside the norm, a 'look' that is as distinctive to the homeowner's lifestyle. This is where the person buys who enjoys their home, and the furnishings inside to make it theirs. So many frames, and so many options in coverings make this both overwhelming and yet very much distinctive. Many will change out their styles every four to five years, to get a new look in a room and sell off the older pieces. Bolder steps are taken and budget is not the driving concern for this group of shoppers. And if in leather furniture, you can be pretty sure these enthusiasts are not going to spec your basic painted-brown Chinese leathers. Usually to get into the 'art' group, you first have to own some utility class pieces. Only then do you begin to realize that you can have both comfort and style in the same piece.