Can I flip and rotate my leather seat cushions?

[drcollie]

This is a question frequently asked and customer are often surprised at the answer. No, you cannot flip then as you can with fabric cushions and the reason why may surprise you. Leather is non-porous, unlike fabric. There has to be an area for the air to escape when the cushion is sat upon, so all the makers install vent panels in the bottom of the seats and backs (black area in the photo). This lets the air escape an without a vent panel it would be like sitting on a beach ball. For that reason there is no leather on the bottom 2/3's of the cushions and therefore they are not flippable. This is the bottom of a seat cushion on a Hancock and Moore Dana sofa, for example.



Are they swappable left/right? Sometimes, but that depends on the maker. Most the better brands will tailor their seat cushions to the corner they are designed to go in, resulting in a more tailored, tighter fit Without this corner tailoring (seen in the yellow rectangle) there would be a gap in that corner. This is also a nice detail to look for when deciding to buy one maker vs another. It takes more crafting to fit the corners vs making cushions in a simple rectangle. If the corner is tailored, you cannot move it Left/Right in a swap.