How durable is faux leather furniture?

September 6, 2018 2:22 PM

We're shopping for a new couch/loveseat or sectional. We're replacing leather couches, which have degraded over the years due to pet scratches, etc. We like the idea of something that's more cruelty free, so we were looking at some "leather-ish" furniture that doesn't look terrible. But how durable are these materials compared to real leather? Is there any particular material that we should be looking for? What about recycled leather? Trying to optimize the cost/durability/cruelty equation and not getting good answers from salespeople.
posted by tonycpsu to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Best answer: Short answer: not particularly durable when considering relative lifespan compared to fabrics or real leather. Not all imitation leather is created equal - there are better, more durable versions out there, but they tend to be less comfortable and found in applications such as automotive seats.

The biggest issue is that given time and wear, the surface material will begin to separate from the fabric substrate, resulting in peeling and flaking. My current sectional made it through about 4 years of moderate wear before the most commonly used areas started to have peeling issues. Definitely not terribly happy about it, but it lasted about as long as I expected given my previous experience with imitation leather furniture upholstery.

Another concern worth noting is that imitation leather doesn't really breathe very well.
posted by BrandonW at 2:34 PM on September 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

Imitation leather is garbage. Even the good quality stuff cracks and peels, as BrandonW says. They're sweaty in summer and can't be oiled or waxed like real leather. Damage to imitation leather stands out, can be scratchy where the edges of the plastic peel up and can't be waxed or oiled over. I recall a gorgeous leather couch a family member had that had a lot of little creases and cracks that had been oiled and buffed into submission and they just added character, whereas the imitation leather we had at ours was such a goddawful nightmare under the same level of wear we wound up putting denim covers over it and it was still scratchy as hell, and because they were generic covers not made for the couches they shifted around and were a pain in the arse all round.

If you want not-leather, fabric with a removable cover is a solid option. We currently have a pair of couches that were made with their own covers and it's pretty straight forward keeping them in good shape. I'm on the wrong continent to be able to point out anywhere near you that might stock something similar, but it's something to look for.

If you can't find a sectional you like with removable covers it is actually fairly easy to have them re-upholstered if they get clawed up by your pets, and you can clean them with a steamer if you want.

As for recycled leather...I'd personally be comfortable with that as an option but it's not going to stop your pets from trashing the new leather the same way they did the old.
posted by Jilder at 6:10 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Best answer: It likely won't help, but I remind myself when buying leather goods that cows aren't killed for their hides. The beef industry and demand for it is so damn big that until vegetarianism is adopted wholesale, whether I buy leather or not will have zero impact on whether a cow lives or dies.

I know it's not a fully defensible position, ethics-wise, but I'm also not a total vegetarian, so *shrug*.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 7:03 PM on September 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

If you get a faux leather couch, plan on replacing it in a year or two if it’s your main seating option and your pets haven’t undergone an extreme change of heart wrt scratching stuff. If you want to keep your couch longer than that, either get real leather or a fabric couch that you can slipcover when your pets decide that you have owned unblemished furniture long enough.
posted by ananci at 10:14 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I can't tell you if faux leather couches have improved much in the past thirty odd years but my childhood memories of those couches back in the 80s are vivid and awful. Because the faux leather would start to split from wear and tear (even in houses without pets though usually there were young children) and then they would start jabbing my thighs no matter where I was sitting on the couch. But based on the answers above, it doesn't sound like they've improved enough to make the expense worth it.
posted by acidnova at 12:03 AM on September 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Joining the chorus to say fake leather isn't super durable. But I'll also say that bonded leather is crap. Granted, we've got 4 cats, three of which have their front claws (the 4th was already declawed before we got him). When the bonded leather and fake leather wears too much it starts flaking off. It's "fun" being at work at the end of the day only to realize you see some flaked leather on you despite not having sat on them that morning.

However, the vinyl couch that we picked up used (was used in a lounge-area at a church - likely a high wear target) has held up fantasticly so far. Granted it only vaguely looks leather-ish and doesn't at all feel like leather. But after the money spent on the bonded leather furniture that didn't hold up well I can get used to vinyl. The main problem with it is so few new furniture is available in vinyl.
posted by nobeagle at 6:27 AM on September 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

When I first moved in with my fiancé we bought a bonded leather couch. It’s been a few years and now it’s flaking like mad and being a huge eyesore in the living room. It was cheap, but we definitely regret not going for something else.
posted by caitcadieux at 6:33 AM on September 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Oh my, we had a bonded leather sleigh bed and it was a joke within 5 years. We have cats, but they weren't actively scratching it... it was just falling apart.
posted by getawaysticks at 4:34 PM on September 7, 2018