I just saw a picture of a Bonded (also known as “Blended”) Sofa on the internet. I refuse to call it Bonded Leather (like so many stores do) – because it’s not leather, it’s vinyl. Remember when you got badly sunburned and a day or two later your skin started to peel off? That’s what this picture shows – the fake leather on the surface of the sofa is peeling right off. Talk about an unsightly waste of money!!
Don’t be deceived – if you purchase a piece of upholstered furniture that’s covered in Bonded, Blended or Bi-cast leather, you will be sitting on vinyl – and it will most likely start peeling like your last bad sunburn early on. Visit the Leather Learning Center on our website at www.choiceleatherfurniture.com and learn more about this shameful deception that’s being “slipped by” uninformed consumers by unscrupulous retailers.

Greetings,

The Winter Market in Las Vegas begins in just a few days and as the economy continues to improve I expect manufacturers will be taking more chances with new style designs.

Over the last few years of the Great Recession and it’s aftermath most furniture makers have stuck with the tried and true designs – not wanting to risk new cutting edge designs that might not be received well with cautious retailers.

Hopefully that changes in 2012 – tried and true are fine but it’s new, exciting designs that get consumers into retail showrooms – and I’m going to shop hard this Market for looks that are beyond “tried and true”!

I’ll let you know what exciting things I find.

Bonded leather (also known as blended leather) – is a term seen in furniture advertisements all over the USA.  But not in England, nor in New Zealand and other countries.

Why is that?  Because in the UK and other countries it’s illegal to use the word “leather” along with “bonded” or “blended” – because it’s not leather.  Unfortunately that’s not true in the USA where many furniture makers and retailers are jumping on the bandwagon of consumer deceit.

Hugo Zuanni, in his leather buyers guide for Dummies says, “Bonded leather is not leather and never will be, cows don’t come supplied on rolls – fabric does”.

That about sums it up – if you want a vinyl sofa – buy one called bonded, blended or bi-cast because a vinyl sofa is what you’ll get.

But you won’t be buying one by those names in England – they’ve made it illegal for retailers and manufactures to use wording to “dupe” consumers.

Bottom line – if you want leather, be sure it comes from cows, not chemicals!