Opinions mixed on bonded leather
By Joan Gunin -- Furniture Today, November 2, 2008
HIGH POINT — Bonded leather bounded into stores about a year ago — but has it stomped all over real leather goods as it was originally intended?
Not quite.
While it is an easy, supple cover to work with and there are no concerns over consistency in color or grain, many of the retail slots dedicated to this mostly manmade leather are on promotional products.
Bonded technology — a leather-look polyurethane face on a fabric core made up of leather pieces joined with adhesive — is regarded by some as an affordable alternative to genuine hides. While it has gained some converts, rawhide diehards continue to view it as an imposter.
And bonded may already have found its match in leather match, of all things.
Critics such as Heath Corso, executive vice president of sales and marketing at leather upholstery manufacturer DeCoro, referring to a bonded product as “leather” is a misrepresentation.
“It is not leather, it is an engineered byproduct. Whether it is replacing more leather or microfiber on floors is debatable,” he said.
For some, the advent of bonded leather is merely a pricing play. Upholstery producer Craftmaster doesn't use bonded, but company President Roy Calcagne is convinced it has usurped leather on some floors. “Where price is an issue, there will be some penetration,” he said.
Peter Robinson, group president of Robinson & Robinson, parent of manufacturer LeatherTrend and a user of Design Resources' NextLeather bonded leather product, agreed bonded leather is a popular cover choice on promotional items.
Ashley's bonded brand UltraBlend, containing 17% leather, is still selling, but said President Kerry Lebensburger, “We are noticing more suppliers switching to leather match as a way to combat higher leather costs and the rush of promotions on blended products. What has been a staple of motion furniture may be coming back to stationary.”
He referred to such money-saving leather-look applications as leather match (polyurethane vinyl) or leather splits (using the underlay in lieu of top grain), typically applied to the “non-touch” back and sides.
Similarly, Michael Herman, Lane's merchandise manager for stationary upholstery, said, “We continue to get mixed signals. Typically, we have seen this (bonded) application used in combos and on the promotional end as an 'all-over' option. We sell some but there are other options (such as splits) much more effective with our products.”
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