Fabric or Leather
Choosing your cover for your upholstery is very important so your time will be well spent looking through our extensive fabric collection and the leathers we offer.
A fabric sofa or chair gives you the opportunity to experiment with a variety of different colours and textures. When deciding on the colour of your sofa, think about the colour of your walls, the carpet, any rugs in the room and furniture. Do consider where the sofa will be positioned, as continued exposure to direct sun may cause fading to occur.
Leather sofas or chairs combine luxury with durability and comfort. Laura Ashley leathers are resistant to staining, cracking and will stand a lot of wear and tear. Over time, with the correct care, the look and feel of leather improves making the sofa or chairs a good investment.
Genuine leather is natural and warm with truly individual characteristics. Laura Ashley only use high quality full and semi aniline leathers, many tanned using water based dyes or pigments and finished with natural substances such as beeswax. This allows the natural markings, scars, shade variation and beautiful characteristics of authentic leather to be enjoyed.
With a little care, leather improves with age. Occasionally, the odd mark or scratch can occur, body shape moulding will happen and colours may mellow, but this does not affect durability, it will simply enhance the unique appearance of your piece and add extra character.
We offer leathers to suit all tastes. Some of our leathers have additional character with distressed and wax finishes. These create more significant variances in texture and colour, with enhanced markings under the wax. Several hides are used to cover a sofa so variation in colour and texture may occur between the different parts of a piece which will all create a sophisticated and unique effect. The two price bands of Character and Fine reflect the work that goes into the finishing processes of each.
Natural Fabric features
Some fabrics have natural characteristics. Carefully consider these to select a fabric perfect for you.
- Some of our fabrics are made from slub yarns to achieve a natural look. Slubs and cotton seeds are a natural feature of the fabric and will not affect the life of the fabric.
- Some of our more delicate fabrics such as velvets and deep pile chenilles are susceptible to crushing and pressure marks that create interesting shading and features.
Loose or Fixed Covers?
LOOSE COVERS
These are removable covers, which can be either machine washable at 40c or professionally cleaned. They’re an ideal option if you have children or pets or enjoy entertaining. Loose cover sofa’s and chairs are more casual in style.
Fabrics used for removable covers are often made from natural fibres such as 100% cotton.
Always have all the covers of your suite cleaned together as it is quite normal for some colour to be lost during the washing process. It is always worth considering an extra set of covers too: if you choose a different colour, you have in effect two suites.
FIXED COVERS
Fixed covers that are permanently attached to the furniture frame offer a much wider choice of colours and material finishes. Although they fit tightly, offering a neater look, they’re less practical in terms of maintenance compared to loose covers. They need to be professionally cleaned in situ.
