Why Hancock and Moore will cost more

This week a new client came into the store from an hour and a half away, he's been doing a lot of research on his new leather furniture purchases and came across this forum. On our initial contact (via email) he replied the quotes were too high and he was considering King Hickory because it cost less. Rather than dismiss his email, I followed up by suggesting he not get a Class 4 leather and look into the Town and Country Promotion from H&M where we could place him a lot closer to his budget. When he arrived at the store (and ultimately ordered Hancock and Moore) he asked me to compare and contrast the two brands. While I don't know all the build standard of King Hickory, he showed me these two photos of a chair he was looking at and here was where I showed him some differences that I - and you - can see with your eyes. When you go shopping for furniture - TRUST YOUR EYES - don't just look at price tags, don't just try the sit of a piece, look at how its crafted. With his permission, I am posting these photos:

Nail Trim

The King Hickory has one of the worst nail-up jobs I have ever seen. This is done with a pneumatic specialty nailer and the operator is unskilled, sloppy, and has too high an air setting on the gun, resulting in the nail "breaking through" the leather crust topcoat and causing hairline fractures in the hide. The alignment is horrid and the installer put nails too close together as well as not planning for the fold in the leather with a nail shot partially covering it. Poor workmanship. Had this piece come into my store, I would have sent it back. See for yourself

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Here's a random Hancock and Moore Office chair I walked out and took a photo of today, the nail trim on this is properly set, spaced correctly and the air pressure on the tool is correct. You can see the difference. Hancock and Moore does not hire workers off the street, you have to know your craft and keep up with standards to work there, even in seemingly mundane jobs like applying nail trim. There is talent involved in doing it right

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Tufted Diamonds

Tufting and "Folding the Diamonds" is done by hand. It's not easy to do, only Journeymen upholsterers have the skill set to do it right, honed over years of experience. This same King Hickory chair has only two diamonds, and you can clearly see the one on the right is not done correctly, it has more of a trapezoid shape to it. While I would not return this back to maker because of this, it shows me they don't have top shelf Tufters on the production line.

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Again, I walked out this morning and took a photo of the Kent Chesterfield I have on the floor in my showroom. Look at how nicely the "diamonds" are done on this unit in comparison, and there are a whole lot more than two of them. Also, deeper tufts are highly desirably, notice how deep they are on the Hancock and Moore Piece.

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Neither of these observations make this King Hickory a poor choice necessarily. In my experience though, I would imagine the suspension, webbing, foam quality and joinery is probably not as good as a brand like Hancock and Moore. Usually a piece with mediocre workmanship you can see with your eyes is not going to be better on the parts you can't see. Most shoppers don't slow down and look at details, they pickup the tag to see how much it costs, drop into a seat for 15 seconds to see how it sits, them get up and move on. Slow down a bit, look it over, trust your eyes and your judgement. Don't listen to the salesperson, 9 out of 10 of them are clueless. Push out on the arms, is it sturdy? Pinch around the frame, can you feel the wood edges under the cover? How is the seat tailored into the back of the piece - any gaps? Better product costs more - we all know that. Decide if your purchase is worth it, and if these details matter to you. Knowledge is Power !

That's why I love this forum! Knowledge is power. Thank you Duane for keeping up this website.

There's a fun Christmas video on the Hancock and Moore site where you can see furniture in various stages of being built. There's a few seconds of someone hammering in nails and boy, does he make it look easy.