All About Leathers

[pirahna 0]

Just to put this tread back on the top for all who wants to know more about leather.

Happy New 2012 Year to all! May you all make wise decision and not get con this year. Beware of shops closing down or changing their names after CNY 2012. This is usually what happen when shops you visited over promise and under deliver and all warranty made during your purchase becomes void.

"GONG XI FA CAI 2012"

Leather quality is one thing. However, regardless of how good the leather quality is, if the manufacturer of the furniture has poor workmanship, that piece of furntiture is still poor in quality.

[kalimantan 6]

say i've use my leather sofa for about 4 years and the firmness of the sofa reduces.

Is there a way to increase the firmness of the sofa ? if yes, does that mean the company will re-sew and stitch the leather properly after increasing the firmness of the seats ?

[mrsjtang 1]

Would like to ask a Leather question here....

Just been to a furniture exhibition. The sales from KUKA HOME said its sofa is using Cowhide, we can choose to have the surface to be smoother or leave it as original texture. The Sales also said that top grain leather is softer than those hide nearer to the flesh of the animal. How true is that?? I tried to do the fingernail testing on their display sets...non of the leather have any indentation on them. Any help from anyone is appreciated. I am sick of buying peeling leather sofas.......

[Jeanius 0]

say i've use my leather sofa for about 4 years and the firmness of the sofa reduces.

Is there a way to increase the firmness of the sofa ? if yes, does that mean the company will re-sew and stitch the leather properly after increasing the firmness of the seats ?

You can check with the dealer where you got your settee from. They should be able to firm it up. Usually it is done bottom up, removing the staples at the bottom of the sofa and change the foam inside. Leather upholstery are stitch before they are dress to the foam and structure.

[Jeanius 0]

Would like to ask a Leather question here....

Just been to a furniture exhibition. The sales from KUKA HOME said its sofa is using Cowhide, we can choose to have the surface to be smoother or leave it as original texture. The Sales also said that top grain leather is softer than those hide nearer to the flesh of the animal. How true is that?? I tried to do the fingernail testing on their display sets...non of the leather have any indentation on them. Any help from anyone is appreciated. I am sick of buying peeling leather sofas.......

Check with them if they issue any warranty certificate for their leather against cracking and peeling. Minimum warranty period should be at least two years. When even sometimes the leather expert cannot tell if the cowhide is split leather or top grain, it is always safer to buy from reliable dealers and knowing the tannery which the cowhides are from. I am sure your peeling leather sofa did not last more then two years.

[Arcadia_Mao 0]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I see some peeps here who can give more advice.

I've bought a $2k+ cow leather Sofa from 1 of the Sofa makers. I'm facing the below situation for less than 1 week of usuage barely few hrs per day,

is this normal?

Hope some kind souls can advice me.. and what actions can I take?

The seats

The daybed

The leather grains

Edited April 1, 2012 by Arcadia_Mao

[Daveyap 0]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I see some peeps here who can give more advice.

I've bought a $2k+ cow leather Sofa from 1 of the Sofa makers. I'm facing the below situation for less than 1 week of usuage barely few hrs per day,

is this normal?

Hope some kind souls can advice me.. and what actions can I take?

The seats

The daybed

The leather grains

I can see from the leather grains that this is a corrected grain leather with the imperfections corrected or sanded off, and an artificial grain impressed into the surface. Did you accidentally dropped some liquid onto the leather surface recently or was the leather delivered to you on a rainy day?

I am not sure if using a leather cleaner will remove those stains or make it worse. As for the last picture, the artificial grain has started to come apart, again the cause is a mystery. It will be difficult to give you any advice on treating the leather unless we know the exact cause. I have learn through the years that it is extremely important to clean leather using a slightly damp cloth as too much liquid will cause long term damage to the leather without you realizing it until it is too late.

[Daveyap 0]

The Full Grain Italian Leather Cushion and seat covers were finally delivered to me this week after almost a month. Took them almost 2 weeks to shipped it in as they do not keep stock in Singapore because of poor demand. The colors are not my first choice but I had no choice but to select them as they were the type of semi aniline finishing that I wanted. I had to struggle a little bit to fit them onto my old cushions and seats as I was using back my own high density foam because it was still in good condition despite being used daily for the last 9 years.

The photos are unable to show the natural grains and scars clearly but I am very happy to see one or two healed scars, a fair bit of veining or stretch marks on my leather surface as proof that it is full grain and semi aniline. Semi-aniline leather tends to have a waxy feel and is softer than corrected grain leather due to only a thin layer of pigment being used to coat its surface. This also allows natural markings in the leather to show through such as hair follicles, scars and bite marks. Semi-aniline leather sofas are suitable for people who want to see the natural beauty of leather but would also like the durability and some of the colour consistency that comes with corrected grain leather.

In the second picture, you will see A.rte Sofa's recliner. As the both are side by side each other, I am able to physically compare and feel the leather quality of both at the same time. The leather quality of A.rte Sofa is surprisingly almost as good as the Italian Leather cushion covers in terms of texture and appearance and they only cost about half the price of the Italian Leather as they were made in Malaysia. Only time will tell if there is really any difference between the 2 of them. The craftsman who came to my house to take the physical measurements for my seat and cushion covers told me that if I take good care of the Italian Leather, it should last a minimum of 10+ years. I paid $1750 for my Italian Leather cushion and seat covers and $1100 for my A.rte Recliner.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Daveyap

[Arcadia_Mao 0]

I can see from the leather grains that this is a corrected grain leather with the imperfections corrected or sanded off, and an artificial grain impressed into the surface. Did you accidentally dropped some liquid onto the leather surface recently or was the leather delivered to you on a rainy day?

I am not sure if using a leather cleaner will remove those stains or make it worse. As for the last picture, the artificial grain has started to come apart, again the cause is a mystery. It will be difficult to give you any advice on treating the leather unless we know the exact cause. I have learn through the years that it is extremely important to clean leather using a slightly damp cloth as too much liquid will cause long term damage to the leather without you realizing it until it is too late.

Hi Dave,

the sofa came fully wraped in plastic & cardboard on delivery, weather was cloudy though.

Well, i dont suppose anyone is able to conclude what sort of leather is used in my sofa?

My main concern now is reflected in picture 2, where there is major depression in the cushion form at the daybed area, and the warping (waves in the leather) is too bad. Can u imagine

the sofa is only used for 1 week? if extend this usage to 6months/1year, how bad can the damage gets?

Is this due to the fact that 1) the leather used in my sofa is too thin? 2)the nature of the softer leather used? 3) or cushion form nt enough?

Because I have seen my neighbour's sofa (also bought fr C company), the leather has not warp even after 4-5months of usage (even with kids jumping on it). but their leather is different, thicker, more oily feel , which they never mainatain, and worse..their sofa is like 75% of my cost despite being similiar in design.

I was wondering if I have the right to ask for refund, since this is the 2nd sofa they deliverd.. the 1st sofa ws in a worse condition, and they offer to re-stretch the leather to "original condidition". But when they send back the sofa to me, the condition was still unacceptable, and i rejected it straight...

see my 1st sofa set condition (aft approx 1 month use)

Edited April 2, 2012 by Arcadia_Mao

[Daveyap 0]

Hi Arcadia,

When you sit down on your sofa, do you experience any sunken feeling like as though the foam is not dense enough to support your weight? If that is the case, then the leather will become loose because it has been stretch by the constant seating motion and weight being applied to the same spot. The problem will be made worse if the leather is too thin as pointed out by you. My Italian leather seat is also very loose with lots of waves but that is because I chose to use back the old foam which cannot be expected to be a good fit so I am prepared to live with it and in any case, I can always insert new foams to solve the problem.

In your case, as this is a new sofa, it would be unreasonable to expect you to live with it. But if this is a production quality issue, then every set of this particular model will encounter the same issues so I am not sure if these retailer is prepared to rectify it unless they are also the manufacturer. You can also try complaining about the stains and use that as an added pressure to get them to do something about the whole sofa but there is a possibility they will say the stain was created by yourself but let's see how they go about trying to defend themselves on the deterioration of the artificial grains.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Daveyap

[vermilion 0]

can someone help please, how about such leather...?

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Daveyap 0]

can someone help please, how about such leather...?

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Your leather is definitely a corrected grain leather with an artificial grain impressed into the surface. They used a layer of stucco to coat the leather before adding on the artificial grain. Leather Stucco is usually a water-based, highly concentrated acrylic paste that fills-in leather scratches and holes. The photos showed that the stucco have cracked and not the leather itself but the first photo showed a much deeper crack. I know how to use leather repair kits because I ordered them online several years back to DIY my cracked car leather seats. The tricky part is repainting the repaired surface to match the original color and I only finally got it right on my 5th attempt.

I would suggest you get one of the leather sofa repairers in Singapore to repair the sofa if it is less than 3 years old. Otherwise, best to start looking for a new leather sofa. By the way, your leather artificial grains pattern (photo on extreme left) is the same exact pattern as the one on my leather office chair which I am sitting on right now as I am typing this paragraph.

[vermilion 0]

haiz... so this so call leather is all cheating!!!!!!

[kalimantan 6]

haiz... so this so call leather is all cheating!!!!!!

well, you will learn as you go along. Life is like that.

Eg when i first bought my home, my furniture is all typical compressed wood, yes dirt-cheap and it looks nice at the showroom (where got showroom show broken furniture).

Over the years, i changed everything to burmese teak wood because it lasts. (and yes must pay a premmium for it).

And now that myanmmar is opening up, hopefully more good jade and teak comes to singapore to reduce price :-)

[Daveyap 0]

well, you will learn as you go along. Life is like that.

Eg when i first bought my home, my furniture is all typical compressed wood, yes dirt-cheap and it looks nice at the showroom (where got showroom show broken furniture).

Over the years, i changed everything to burmese teak wood because it lasts. (and yes must pay a premmium for it).

And now that myanmmar is opening up, hopefully more good jade and teak comes to singapore to reduce price :-)

Bro, you are a furniture connoisseur. Not easy to cheat you of your money now when it comes to furniture purchase. I am extremely wary of all furniture retailers except those selling exclusive teak wood furniture as there are hardly any fake teak