H & M Leather Questions

[Chad Champlin]

Hi Duane,

Thank you for all of your help in placing our order with H & M for the two City Sofas.

I was speaking with my Brother in CT. He is now interested in H & M and asked if I forward these questions to you in a post.

Do you have any experience with the following leathers?

1. Bozeman Harness
2. Bison Tobacco
3. Olde English Harness or Tobacco
4. Plaza Natural Burnished or Terracotta Burnished
5. Continental Chocolate or Sable

If so, would you mind providing as much detailed information as you know about them?

1. Thickness
2. Durability
3. Softenss
4. Texture
5. Complete Aniline
6. Do any have a better propensity against spills/oils/etc... (I know they are all 'unprotected')
7. Roughly how long have they been in the line-up?

Might you have any pictures of pieces in the leathers mentioned above?

Thanks!

[Chad Champlin]

I didn't want to exclude others by addressing the post to Duane.

Does anyone out there have comments, insight, or experience with the leathers mentioned in my previous post?

[drcollie]

My pleasure, Chad! Thank you for the order.

You're into some of the more exotic hides in that group:

Bozeman Harness: This is American Bison, yep - buffalo hide. Its full Top Grain, has a spongy feel to it and is coarse. A thick hide, its purchased by H&M in a mostly raw state and is burnished in-house after the piece is completed. Its an unprotected leather with 3 Serviceability. Price Grade 5

Bison: The hide of a Water Buffalo, from Thailand. Its a rugged leather that is finished with waxes and oils. Has a 'pull-up' effect to it, and is distressed looking. Classified as an unprotected leather with 3 Serviceability. Price Grade 2.

Old English: An 'old school' full top grain aniline leather that has a slight pull-up effect. I like this leather a lot, but it has considerable color variance from the swatches from piece to piece, especially in the reds. Unprotected. 3 Serviceability, Price Grade 3.

Plaza is full top grain, with some vegetable tannage to give it the feel of 'saddle leather'. Its a thick crust hide and has a heavy weight to it, and is finished at the H&M plant once the piece is made. Will have lots of natural markings (healed scars, insect bites, scratches) Unprotected. 3 Serviceability. Price Grade 3.

Continental is the finest hide in the H&M line. Expensive at Price Grade 5. This is a German leather that is vacuum-dried to give the leather some 'lift', then run through a specialty machine that applies heat and pressure to the leather to develop a natural gloss to the leather (some of this is lost through production of the furniture from handling). There have been many other tanneries that have tried to duplicate this hide, but none have been successful. Shows natural markings, scars, bug bites, etc under the silky, luxury finish. Unprotected, Serviceability 3.

There is quite a spread on these leathers. The Bozeman and Bison are best defined as crude, manly leathers (think Tim Allen in "Home Improvement"...ARgggh!! ArRgggh!) that would look great in a Lake Tahoe mountain cabin or a ranch in Wyoming. Olde English is a classic old world high-end leather....same thing they used to do forty years ago. Plaza has the 'hot' and very stylish look of hand burnished leather, which is quite artistic and for those more adventuresome in their choices. Continental is as good as it gets - top of the pile for luxury leathers that are totally elegant.

All the leathers above will have moderate resistance to spills and stains, but watch out for acid or oil-based spills, they will likely soak in.

[traderz]

Duane, what would be your personal ranking of different H&M leathers in all 5 price grades? Thanks!

[drcollie]

Duane, what would be your personal ranking of different H&M leathers in all 5 price grades? Thanks!

Its on the forum, here:

http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...r-Descriptions

[Cookie]

Bozeman Harness: This is American Bison, yep - buffalo hide. Its full Top Grain, has a spongy feel to it and is coarse. A thick hide, its purchased by H&M in a mostly raw state and is burnished in-house after the piece is completed. Its an unprotected leather with 3 Serviceability. Price Grade 5

Is Bozeman Harness an aniline leather? The H&M leather description says it's "top-coated by hand with layers of dyes", so I guess it's not?

Thank you!

[drcollie]

Yes, its a full-top grain aniline with no topcoat (dyes are not top coats).

[MRSSQRDAWAY]

DUANE
Recently read a post where you said you had a red chair in your office. Could you recommend a red that would be a clear red, color of a Veterans Red Poppy.
If there is a leather of this color, I will PM a request. Thinking of using it on the Springfield sofa.
Thanks.

[drcollie]

Actually my office chairs are all browns...

For all the available reds from H&M, you can see them at this link and just scroll through them all:

http://www.hancockandmoore.com/leather.asp

[MRSSQRDAWAY]

GOOD AFTERNOON TO ALL
This is a information request to anyone that has had any of the H&M red leathers put on any chair.sofa, or ottoman. I am considering the #4445 SPRINGFIELD sofa and my husband want red leather. I think he is remembering CANDY APPLE RED from his youth. Or maybe it was called arrest me red. I like the sofa just as it is shown on H&M site. At this point there has been no decision to protected leather or non protected.