When Leather and Vinyl are paired together - Bad Things Happen

Look at this picture...

What you see is a leather seat top that is sewn to a vinyl side panel.  The vinyl side panel has broken down. Once vinyl gets to this state of deterioration it cannot be effectively repaired.  Note that on the leather side of the seam, everything is normal. This is a clear example of how quality top grain leather will outlast vinyl.  All of the stress of weight baring is on the leather panel.  The side panel is simply flexing as a person sits on the seat cushion, yet the deterioration of the vinyl is plainly obvious.  This is a fairly common manufacturing process to intended reduce cost for the manufacturer.  It is most commonly found on motion furniture (recliners).

Here's a close up of the same picture.

Note that the erosion of the vinyl is complete along the entire length of the seam.

Why does this happen?

The answer lies in the attributes of both materials.  Leather is organic.  It is infused with oils at the tannery to impart suppleness.  Leather breathes.  As such it looses its moisture (oils) through evaporation.  Vinyl is a synthetic byproduct of the petrochemical industry.  Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) is typically a solid.  Think of the plastic garden pipe used in home irrigation system. PVC pellets are heated and mixed with an oil then this mixture flows over a cloth and when dry is now vinyl as found on furniture.  The oil in vinyl is not molecularly bound to the vinyl molecule.  Its free floating.

As leather looses its moisture through evaporation, to equalize that moisture loss, it wicks the oils from the vinyl side of the seam.  Thus oils vacate the vinyl, as they are sucked into the leather.  This loss of oil gradually reduces the vinyl to its original solid state and it slowly flakes away as shown in the picture.  The thinner the vinyl, the quicker this will happen.

Once the vinyl coating of the cloth substrate disappears, it cannot be replaced through a repair.  The only solution is to remove the offended panel and replace with new.  To do that requires disassembly of the furniture which balloons the cost beyond reasonable.

This vinyl failure is one of the perils of a leather-vinyl combination.  Most people are not aware that components of there furniture are vinyl.  Generally the piece is sold as  "leather furniture" when in fact it's part leather and part vinyl.  When I see this condition I recommend that the client not invest further in the piece.  It's time to get new furniture.

If you have leather and vinyl on the same piece of furniture, then to prevent this from becoming your problem, keep the leather moisturized.  Properly and frequently apply leather conditioner (SG - 25 moisturizer) to ensure that the leather has no need to wick the oils from the vinyl.

Copyright 2010 Kevin Gillan

Leather & Vinyl Combination on Furniture - Good or Bad Idea?

When buying leather furniture, ask this question, “Is it all leather?”.

Many Advanced Leather Solutions clients are surprised to find out that the “leather” furniture they purchased is in fact a leather and vinyl combination. They make this discovery when they notice splitting or cracking in the material. This most often occurs in the side panel of a seat cushion, or at a stress-bearing seam (outside arm, outside top of backrest, etc.).



The typical construction of a leather/vinyl combination is to use leather on those areas that come in contact with your body - the seat cushion top, the inside backrest and the tops of the armrests. All other panels, including the outside back, side panels, sides of the seat cushion, and arm- and back-rest anchor-panels are vinyl.

Here’s the problem. Vinyl is a synthetic material (and has nowhere near the tensile strength of leather). Leather is an organic material. The two materials are fundamentally incompatible when joined together along a seam. This is particularly apparent on a seat cushion (see the picture) where the vinyl side panel (boxing panel) is sewn to the leather top panel. Leather is porous and loses its moisture through evaporation (which is why leather should be conditioned regularly). To replace this lost moisture, the leather literally wicks (draws by absorption) oils from the vinyl where the two materials are in contact with each other along a seam, reducing the oil content of the vinyl. As the vinyl loses its moisture, it also loses its ability to flex, and subsequently cracks. This is most commonly seen as fissures that start at stitch-holes and run perpendicular to the seam line. Over time, these cracks will only worsen. Once this starts, it is not repairable.

Leather/vinyl combination manufacturing strategies (sometimes referred to as leather-mate, leather-match, or other marketing terms) are a ploy by the manufacturer to reduce cost. And in this reduction in materials cost for the manufacturer, the life expectancy of the furniture is greatly diminished. By as much as 75%, depending on usage patterns.

Recliners are the most common type of furniture for leather and vinyl match. One prominent San Francisco bay area retailer told us that 70% of all supposed leather recliners are actually leather/vinyl.

If you expect a long, useful life from your leather furniture - be careful at the point of purchase. Ask the question, “Is the piece all leather?” If the answer is yes, then make sure that appears on your sales reciept. You can check by examining the back side of the material. If it appears to be a fuzzy material or a woven fabric (usually white, but can also be gray, black, or brown), it’s vinyl. If it looks like suede, it’s probably leather.

If you already own a leather/vinyl match, pay careful attention to your conditioning regimen. We have great Leather Care products for exactly this purpose. If the leather is regularly moisturized, it will have less of a tendency to draw the oil from the adjacent vinyl panel. Also, when sitting on or exiting the seating area, try not to put undue stress on the seams where the arm or back pillow attach to the frame.

Copyright 2009 Kevin Gillan