Is anyone out there having to do repair after repair on these bonded leather sets?
What is with this ? People are believing they are actually buying leather ! ..,before they know it, it is pealing away from the backing like the skin of a sunburn.
They should take that bonded whatever it is off the market. I won't even sell it.,the sample card is out of the book for good.
The vinyls I replace the panels with will last longer than the rest of the set.
I think marketing it with the word ''leather has fooled many consumers
I agree. I had a customer want me to do a couch cushion which started flaking. They told me that it was leather. I told them it was vinyl. They said " but they told me it was leather when I bought it ".
I put furniture sales people right up there with used car sales people. :)
I turned the job down. I couldn't get matching fabric for it anyways as the manufacturer went out of business. I am a canvas guy anyways and I am sure Gene, Dennis, Kody and other furniture people here can tell some horror stories about the cheap crap that is out there on the market.
Chris
I think the customer should go in and claim false advertising
I tried to sew up an open seam in this stuff a few years ago. Every time I got the needle through it, it just flaked apart. I ended up opening up the panel (outside back) and doing a lock stitch from the inside.
That stuff has already come and gone around here. I haven't seen any new samples of it in almost 5 years. What suppliers are still carrying that crap?
Usually when I quote a price for a job in "Genuine leather", their jaw drops to the floor. They have no concept of the difference between real leather, and all the cheap imitations on the market.
In terms of sheer "bang for your buck", I like recycled leather much better than real leather.
But it's been a while since I've even seen any of that peeling, flaking bonded leather.
Yeah, that stuff is junk. I call it "leather hamburger". We've never carried it, never plan to carry it, and discourage anyone from using it.
I have taken A LOT of heat from customers because we don't carry it. I'm sure they haven't been burned yet. Vinyl is much better than this stuff, and personally I feel that it's dishonest to sell vinyl with ground leather shavings as "genuine leather".
-Andrew
I repalced a top panel of a cushion on a sectional three years ago and she had me replace two more recently.
The sectional looks all flaky and the vinyl panel I replaced still looks like new.
That bonded leather sells like crazy in the box stores , you would think consumers would get it , if you want to buy cheap your are going to get cheap but they seem to think ..wow ! look a bonded leather sofa ,what a great price !
Not really the consumers fault, They're not educated when it comes to furniture structures and fabric.
Maybe I'm confused. What I'm calling "recycled leather" DOES look like ground leather scraps (hamburger leather). I've been very happy with it, and have had no complaints. As far as I can tell so far (3-4 years), it feels more like genuine leather than leather does, wears better, and actually stretches better than vinyl. It retails in the high 30's. My sample books say "Recycled leather" right on the cover. They never try to pass it off as genuine leather.
I thought lc was talking about the vinyl stuff that peels like a sunburn.