Non-Leather Motion Recliners -

[calguy77]

Hi All,

I've been reading the forum for the past week or so and have to thank everyone for the great advice. Looking at Hancock and Moore and bradington-young as rated top of their field in construction. My only issue, everything I'm seeing with these brands websites is leather. Are there any brands of equal quality that are not leather? I'd hate to put my money into Lay-z-boy or a subpar brand just cause I can customize it more.

Thank you in advance,

J

[drcollie]

Oh sure, anything you see from virtually all makers is available as a fabric recliner. Hancock and Moore uses Jessica Charles fabrics and there are hundreds, and you can even put Century fabrics on H&M for a small handling charge. Bradington Young has a small amount of fabrics - around 50 or so, and of course Taylor King and Motioncraft (who use Sherrill Fabrics). I have three recliners on the floor right now in fabric, one from Taylor King, one from Bradington-Young and one from Motioncraft (extended footrest photo).





The reason you see so many leather motion pieces is friction. Recliners in motion have wear areas, plus they get used more than most other pieces of furniture. Leather outlasts Fabric by 4 to 1, so you can get 20 + years out of maintained leather recliner that is used daily. Few fabric recliners make it past the 7 year mark and then the material is worn and needs a reupholster. That is going to cost around $ 1,400 to use a halfway decent fabric from most upholsterers these days, maybe a little more. That's why leather is so popular, they are more economical over the usable life of the piece.

But if you do want fabric, it certainly is available!

[Mointain Woman]

Still Learning how to start a post. Can I replace a rivet with a small bolt on a Brad Young recliner? Older than 1999 but wasn't used as recliner until 2013. I love it! I think too old to find a replacement mechanism

[drcollie]

Many people have tried to do so (replace a rivet with a bolt) and I have been told it always fails again after a short period of time. Won't hurt to try, but I think you will need a hardened bolt which you are not going to get a Lowes or Home Depot, and also a bushing the correct diameter, that's how I would do it. There is a lot of force and stress on those rivet points, so just putting in a spare nut and bolt from the garage is probably not going to work. You are most likely correct that there are no replacement mechs for a 24 year old recliner, but if you have the model number if the unit, then a call can determine if one is available. Cost is around $ 500 for a new mech on most recliners.