Recycled leather

[unclelarr]

Okay, I've been full time in my own upholstery business for four years now, mostly automotive, some commercial jobs.  About three years ago I covered some bar stools for someone's residence with recycled leather, the only time to date i've used it.  I've never heard anything negative from the customer, and they liked them, so I assume all is well. The particular sample they picked didn't really impress me alot, maybe on account of the color and texture.  I usually have a custom auto interior project I'm thinking about, and I'm always trying to find something a little bit different to make the interior stand out.  Since I did the stools, one of the vendors I use (same one I purchased the recycled leather from before) has came out with more books with the recycled leather, and some of swatches are really cool, and have a really nice feel to them.  In the past, I've pushed the recycled leather aside, but after talking to the vendor, I'm considering throwing them into the mix, primarily on streetrods, etc.  If they were having problems with the product, I don't think they would have added three or so new books to their offering over the last few years.  Any thoughts?  Thanks!

[gene]

Here's a link to a not too distant discussion on this topic.

http://www.upholster.com/upholstery-forum/index.php?topic=11271.0

I think recycled leather is to leather as OSB is to plywood.

It's cheaper than leather which seems to be the main reason folks choose it rather than real leather - not wanting vinyl.

And it's got the 'good for the environment' tag because scraps of leather that would normally go to the dump are being used to make this product.

gene

[sofadoc]

I tell my customers that recycled leather is "The baloney of leather". Basically, ground leather scraps. They are usually amused by that analogy.

And I think that dollar-for-dollar, it's an infinately better value than genuine leather.
 
I've been using it on furniture for 4 or 5 years now with no complaints. But I haven't heard of anyone trying it on auto seats.

[Mike]

lately I see a lot of furniture flyers advertising bonded leather couches  is thi the same?

[MinUph]

In my opinion bonded, foe, recycled and any other name before leather makes it all the same. Not bad stuff mind you if treated properly and sold correctly. I might de laminate when welting is used but the stuff is not bad otherwise. Some have come in with an foul odor though.

[sofadoc]

Bonded (or blended) leather is vinyl spread over ground leather scraps.
Recycled leather is ground leather scraps mixed with resin.

There was some really bad bonded/blended leather on the market several years ago. The outer surface literally peeled off.
I haven't seen any recycled leather that failed that way. In fact, I haven't seen any recycled leather that failed at all.

I've seen plenty of bonded, blended, and even GENUINE leather that didn't hold up very long.

No one will ever convince me that genuine leather is worth what it costs.

[zanepurcell]

uncle,

where is this bonded leather coming from? I remember seeing some a few years ago but it was sort of thick... How are you dealing with welting?
Zane

[unclelarr]

Sorry for the slow response, its been a little crazy lately.  The books I have are from charlotte fabrics.  I've used quite a bit of certain patterns of theirs, and its always worked out nice.  Never really had any issues with their product, so i guess it does give me a little up front confidence.  The recycled leather doesn't really seem to be much thicker than a medium  vinyl.  Welting, hmmm.  Never gave that much thought.  Usually my style, in a pattern with this type of look and feel,  I tend to leave the welting off and topstitch instead.  With this product, and wear and tear sliding in and out of the vehicle, I would definately be concerned about it holding up.  Thanks for all the great input.  I really appreciate it!

[poppy79424]

WE did a complete interior on a 1969 ford galaxy 2 dr hard top a little over a year ago. The customer brought it back a few months ago. The recycled leather had millions of little cracks all over it on the seats and door panels. I got it from Charlotte Fabrics. I contacted Steve at Charlotte. He gave me some vinyl to replace it. Well that was nice of him but I had to eat the labor to redo all the seats and door panels. I defiantly will never use that stuff again.

[sofadoc]

The customer brought it back a few months ago. The recycled leather had millions of little cracks all over it on the seats and door panels. I got it from Charlotte Fabrics. I contacted Steve at Charlotte. He gave me some vinyl to replace it. Well that was nice of him but I had to eat the labor to redo all the seats and door panels. I defiantly will never use that stuff again.

I have recycled leather sample books from Charlotte, A&A, and Neo Fabrics. None of the books I have even suggest using it for car interriors.

Poppy: If I were an KNOWN auto upholsterer, and Charlotte sent me one of those books (knowing that I was going to use it on a car interrior), I think that they should be on the hook for some labor reimbursement.

Not only would I swear off recycled leather for cars, I think I'd swear off Charlotte as well.

[kodydog]

I'm not a car guy but here's my 2 cents worth.

Another fellow "sterry56" on this site stated something I never knew before. And I'm ab-libbing here. Because of extreme temperature changes vinyl and leather should be rated for car interiors. Here in North Florida the interior of a car can get up to 140* in the summer time and down to 15* in the winter. Typical household interior materials will never hold up to this fluctuation. I can't speak for recycled leather but I would check it out before I did a high money car interior.

[Can-Vas]

I'm not a car upholstery guy, but I'm thinking there might also be an issue where; in extreme heat, fumes from the bonding agent could be emitted into the car interior, giving off at the very least a chemical smell and at the worst toxic, carcinogenic properties...??

[unclelarr]

You guys are bringing up a lot of valid points and thoughts, which I appreciate.  The upcoming project that I was considering the recycled leather for looks to have settled in on a nice combination of vinyls, so this issue was side-stepped for now.  However, I am concluding that I will continue to set the recycled leather off to the side.  The patterns make it tempting, but I would  prefer to stay with the types of products that have either worked out well for me in the past, or that folks like you have had success with and can recommend.  If someone has already had cracking problems in an automotive application, that's a good reason to stay away from it.  Never thought about the possible fume / toxic factor.  May or may not be a factor, but how would a person (upholsterer) ever know for sure?  Yep, I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  I'll stay with the types of cloth, leather and vinyls that keep working for me.  Thanks Everyone.