Telling whole truth always smells sweet
Ray Allegrezza, Editor in Chief -- Furniture Today, July 16, 2007
Shakespeare clearly wasn't in the leather business. If he had been, he never would have suggested that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
If you've been reading Furniture/Today, or talking to people who have, you know that many members of our cow-town community, i.e., leather merchants, have become polarized over a relatively new product, bonded leather.
One camp applauds the product, pointing to its durability, good hand and good drape. The opposing camp, often leather purists, is critical of bonded leather, just as they were when bycast leather — polyurethane-coated leather splits — came on the scene some years ago. Their core concern is that consumers, who may not be well-informed and thus unable to distinguish one type of leather from another, will be misled.
How durable is bonded leather? The industry standard is 15,000 double rubs. As Susan Andrews, our fabric editor, pointed out in her recent column, some bonded leathers have been tested to more than 100,000 double rubs.
The fact that bonded leather is often far less expensive than other leathers also has made it popular with a growing number of retailers and suppliers.
I believe the real issue is not about the viability of bonded leather, but about truth in labeling. The industry has an obligation to label it in such a way that consumers fully understand what they are buying. One supplier, with decades of upholstery experience, says the quality of some bonded leather is such that even a trained eye would be hard pressed to distinguish it from other leathers.
I've covered the furniture industry for well over 25 years, and remember when some retailers came under scrutiny for advertising and selling cherry furniture that, in fact, was not made of solid cherry. A flurry of complaints from angry consumers, who felt they had been intentionally misled, helped nip that in the bud.
So, while a rose by any other name may very well smell as sweet, if it's not a rose, let's say so, in a way everyone can understand.
