Re: New leather furniture for a novice buyer
"DR" is just my initials, certainly not a Dr.! But this is what the forum is for, to ask questions and get some answers.
OK, lots of questions there....lets start addressing them one at a time.
First off, let me say that generally speaking, the old adage is true in the leather furniture business "You get what you pay for". Building furniture is not rocket science, they all know how to do it right. The key is each company markets to a given segment. Hancock and Moore believes in 'no shortcuts' they use the best of everything and let the price fall where it may. So does Leathercraft. Classic Leather is another good build, but they are not the company they used to be, largely because of poor management choices in marketing, not due to build quality. You can vary the covers to get the price down on these upper tier makers, but the build quality is always the same no matter if the leather is inexpensive Chinese or costly Swiss leather.
Bradington Young does not fall into the high tier, nor is that their target market. They will cost 20 % less on average, and you get 20 % less product. Still, they build a very durable, long-lasting piece.
Flexsteel is third tier, as is Pallister, and Sam Moore. Natuzzi I wouldn't waste my time on. You give up quite a bit in third tier furniture, in exchange for price. I don't carry third tier in my store, I see too many faults at that level that bother me - but I'm known for being a tad picky. "Superb" is a brand I'm not familiar with.
The China Issue: There is a huge, and I mean MASSIVE backlash from folks right now that do not want Chinese furniture. I hear it daily, and I'm with you. I make sure the owners of these companies hear it too, and they have. However, the price to value ratio of Chinese hides cannot be ignored. They offer the best bang for the buck. China does not have a cattle industry, so hides actually originate here in the USA as 'crusts' and are shipped to China for tanning, and come back as a finished product. The quality of the leather from the top-of-the-line tanneries is excellent, and if you decide you really want an top flight European hide, you'll pay quite a bit more.
Leggett and Platt which makes the best mechanisms has two US production facilities and two in China. You may get a mechanism made in the USA or one from China, no way to tell or specify. Springs for the deck and other materials can come from China, no matter who the maker. Its difficult for me to know the source of every component in the piece, but you can assume that there will likely be parts from China in most everything out there.
As to the price of $ 3,292 for the Austin Sofa in Married Cover, was that the # 8134NB model? If so, thats an easy price to beat. I will no longer quote prices in the forum as the specific request of H&M, but you can PM me if you would like a quote.
I can't address concerns on Ekorne's warranty, and don't know the brand well. Lots of folks seem to like what they build, however.
I find the comment that the Flexsteel sales droid told your wife to be hilarious. He's 180 degrees from being accurate! Proper kiln-dried wood is exactly what you want for the best construction. Kiln-drying to a specific moisture content means stability in construction, and less change of warpage and shrinkage during the build process (once things are all tied together, they move very little). Flexsteel uses all engineered plywood in their pieces (as do other makers), and its less expensive (surprise!) as well as being superior to solid wood in certain areas of a frame. Even Hancock and Moore uses it for certain parts of a piece, but the problem building an entire frame out of it is that it 'racks', unlike solid hardwood. Easy to see this for yourself, next time you go to the store, pick up a Flexsteel sofa from just one corner and lift it up. Watch how far you can lift it before the other front leg begins to come up, I'm betting you can get three inches, maybe four on the lifted corner before the rest of the front comes up. Now to go a Hancock and Moore sofa build of solid wood and do the same thing, you'll get 1/2" to 3/4" and inch before the other front leg comes up. That twist in the frame is from the plywood construction and we call it 'racking'. Makes it difficult on reclining sofas and sectionals to get good alignments because floors are rarely even. When I was a Flexsteel dealer for a short time, we always took lots of wooden door shims on delivery with us so we could adjust for the racking on the Flexsteel items.
Here is Legacy leather's guarantee:
"Our lifetime warranty covers the frame, the padding, the cushions and even the leather itself against color transfer, against finish cracking and peeling."
Color transfer? I should hope the dye stays on! Finish cracking and peeling? No leather should do that, its a sign of a poorly applied topcoat. The guarantee doesn't apply to wear-through I see, and that's what I would be looking for if I wanted a guarantee worth something.
Bonded Leather. That's just nasty. Its not even real leather, in fact the only country in the WORLD that its allowed to be called 'leather' is the USA. Every other country forbids it to be marketed as "leather'. What bonded leather really is made of is scrap leather, and its always from China. When companies like H&M mark and cut leather, there are scraps, from which they make leather sample swatches and the like, but they have so much they collect the scrap in drums. When they collect enough scrap, its sold by the ton and put in a container for China. There the scraps of every color are chemically melted into a slurry, and the melting process destroys the cellulose bonds that give leather its strength. The slurry is them applied to a polypropylene sheet, an artificial grain is stamped into it, its painted, and comes to a supplier like a bolt of fabric, not a hide. Its totally fake leather, and doesn't have the strength of natural leather. I won't sell it, and when any of my manufacturers send samples of it they go right in the trash can - and I will not ever sell it, even on request.
Pigmented leather, also called Finished or Corrected leather. That's going to be about half the leathers on the market, and the most durable ones. You really can't rule that out, because you want to use and bring food and meatballs to the pieces, and only this class of leather has that kind of topcoat. Your other choices are pure aniline hides, but now you've kicked yourself up several notches in price and are giving up some protection.
Want to know the perfect leather? H&M's ANTELOPE series. A German hide that is fully protected, has a soft matte finish, is luxurious feeling and looks like a million bucks. Just today I was discussing 'the perfect leather' in the line with my H&M rep in the store and we both agreed this is the one. It hits all the markers. However its a European hide and a Grade 3 leather, so you have to pay to get in this class of hide. Every customer who has ever ordered Antelope has been very happy with it, but it could be a budget buster.
! Whew ! Think I got most the questions..... next round!
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.