Luke Leather Company

Duane-

I want to thank you for hosting this forum. It provides a great service.

I was wondering if you had an opinion regarding a company called Luke Leather. They have a limited product line and no ability to customize. That really doesn't bother me as I am just looking for an inexpensive leather sofa that will get me by for the next few years until I can afford H & M or B-Y.

Their price range is in the $1500 range for a married sofa with what they are calling "semi-aniline" leather. They don't sell direct and I see them on CSN and a bunch of other internet retailers. I did speak with a sales rep from the store "Basista's" which I believe is a bricks and morter store in the Cleveland area. He said the build quality was very good for a sofa at that price point. He said the only downside was that there is no ability to customize.

Do you know anything about this company? The website is www.lukeleather.com.

I like the look of the furniture, but I am currently sitting on a fabric sofa that I purchased from American Signature that looked great, but started to fall apart after a year. Don't get me started on them. The bottom line is that I don't want to waste money on junk.

I'm afraid I don't know anything about them. There are hundreds of these smaller import leather companies that come and go with the wind. I tried to get a sense of what they are making from reading their web site and come away neutral on it, sorry.

I fall back on the old adage, "Everything looks good when its new". See if you can find someone who has owned this brand and get some direct feedback from them. How is it going to be in 5 years is what you want to know, or 10? If its dead in 5 years, then you have $ 1,500 down the drain.

An H&M City Sofa in the Town and Country Program is just under $ 2,000 and that will go 20 years. So are you better off to spend another $ 500 and get a sure thing or go with the unknown at 75% of the price?

Thanks, Duane. That's some good food for thought. I'll definitely get in touch with you if I want to go for the H & M. I'm going to go out and look at a few models and make a decision.