Good Leather Furniture?

Question:How can you tell if you are buying a good quality leather sofa (beside the price)? We have had a really nice Italian leather set for over 10 years and would like to replace it. The furniture was expensive but high quality. We have been shopping around and found some sets that are not as expensive as we paid 10 years ago, but seem to be the same grade. How can we tell?

Answers:
The quality of suites these days is often in the frames. Manufacturers are using inferior quality frames to reduce the price. Also many leather suites are now produced in China to reduce the costs. Many Italian manufacturers production is now in China but they will still call it Italian. It is a bit of a myth that Italian leather is the best as they do not actually produce cattle for the industry, it is just that most of the tanneries are there. The best quality hides come from places like Sweden, Switzerland and the more temperate climates.

A good quality leather will still be expensive if it is on a good quality frame.

Check that you are buying full grain leather (not just top grain) and that the frames are hard wood.

Buy from a reputable leather retailer. Grades of leather are just price points and vary from retailer to retailer, even the cheap stores will have grades, so none of them equate to each other.

Whatever you pay always look after your leather with top quality products (not those sold by the retailers - most of those are just water) and it will alst a long time.