Leather or fabric: which sofa cover is right for you
The question we get most in the showroom is not which sofa but which cover. It is a decision about how you live more than how the room looks.
By Mara Esposito2 min read
Materials / Sofas
Here is each one as plainly as we can put it, and then the question that actually decides it, which is who else lives in the house.
Leather
Our leather is full grain, which means the surface is the hide’s own surface, marks and all. It is cool to sit on in summer and warms to you in winter. It wipes clean, which is why it suits a house with a dog or small children, and it gets better with wear rather than worse: the Cognac on the Bodil darkens where you sit and stays pale where you do not, and after 5 years the sofa tells you where the family sits.
It is not forgiving of claws, and a scratch is permanent even if it fades. It is also the expensive option, usually by a third.
Fabric
Fabric is softer, warmer to the touch, and comes in every color we make. A flat weave, like the cover on the Ada 2-seater, is dense and hard-wearing, and it hides a cat’s attention better than anything else. Boucle is the softest and the least forgiving of rings and pets. Linen creases, and is beautiful for it.
Fabric stains where leather wipes, so every fabric sofa we sell has removable covers, and most are machine washable at 30 degrees. Keep the care label, because the 1 thing that ruins a cover is a hot wash.
Which one, then
- Pets with claws: leather if you can live with a few marks, flat-woven wool if you cannot.
- Small children: leather, or a washable fabric in a mid tone. White boucle waits until they are 10.
- A sunny room: fabric. Leather fades too, but unevenly.
- Allergies: leather holds no dust.
- A room you want to feel soft: fabric, every time.
Hold a sample of either before you decide. The showrooms have every cover we make on the wall, and the Contact page will send one.
