Thread: Fabric turning red

Hi, I was hoping someone would have some insight as to why the back of my sofa is turning red. This is the second sofa (both from same company) that it is happening to. My first thought is that maybe its from the light coming into the room, but the odd thing is that I always have pillows on it and it is turning red even where the pillows would naturally block the light. No problems with any of the other furniture in the room, just this sofa and only on the back of it.

I don't see any red. All I see is a brown sofa.

I do see the red. Very odd. It almost looks like a red light reflecting on the upper part of the back cushions. It looks more pink in my phone browser. Hope you figure it out.

I see it too, near the top of the back. Do you often have anything sitting up there like a blanket or pet? Does anyone commonly rest their hide around that height? If you vacuum a spot, does it make any difference?

I see it too, near the top of the back. Do you often have anything sitting up there like a blanket or pet? You mentioned you have pillows on it, what does that look like and is possible they are rubbing / bleeding? Does anyone commonly rest their head around that height? If you vacuum a spot, does it make any difference?

Thank you for your replies. To be honest, the sofa is hardly used at all. My husband and I usually sit in the recliners. The first sofa that it happened to, the service man steamed it and brushed it, and it didn’t change at all. I haven’t had anyone come to look at this one because I’m still trying to figure out the reason I am having this issue. The company suggested that I must have had a “red” throw across the back, which I did not. I do appreciate your replies. Thank you. I’m attaching another picture of the room. (The pink/red might not show up too much in this picture depending on your monitor.)

The strangest part is that it’s just the back of the sofa. There doesn’t seem to be any direct sunlight on it. My first thought was that the brown had some undertones that were coming out do to fading. That doesn’t seem to be the case and there is no evidence that there is direct sunlight on the back of the sofa. Very odd.

That is what I think too, sun damage. Based on your other pic with how the pillows are positioned and you can see the red dips down in the middle and basically follows the outline of the pillows. Does the couch get direct sun at some portions of the day, or have a skylight?

Thank you SueCT and Danw99. As you can see in the picture, I have a window to the right of the sofa, which is a north facing, and to the left, is a 2nd story foyer window facing south. At a certain time of the day, there may be a little direct sunlight coming in, but it doesn’t line up with the discoloring of the back of sofa. The side of the sofa and the arm of the sofa have no discoloring at all. The sofa is 4 yrs old and in excellent shape. At this point, I guess I’ll just see if it gets any worse. Thank you.

With my monitor, I see pink on the upper part of the sofa back. Is there an air vent in the ceiling that is facing your sofa, blowing hot/cold air with dirt particles from the vent system? OR could it be pink insulation from an attic (yes, it's a stretch, I know) blowing through the vent?

Also, I wonder if a lint shaver (the little machine used to get rid of pilling on a sweater) might remove the pink layer?

What an oddity. Good luck!