American Leather Survey Probes New York Homeowners’ Opinions On Leather Furniture

Furniture World Magazine

If you’re one of the 38 percent of New York-area residents who purchased a piece of leather furniture over the past three years, chances are your friends describe you as stylish, colorful and fun loving. You’re definitely not boring or stuffy, they say. Recently American Leather, a top leather manufacturer based in Dallas, commissioned a 14-market survey to canvass people who plan to buy furniture. In the New York area, the survey probed furniture buyers’ attitudes toward leather furniture, who buys it and why. In fact, 47 percent of those surveyed in New York said the people who own leather furniture are “stylish,” which was also the number one reason why consumers bought leather furniture. Other reasons for buying? After “stylish,” leather furniture buyers picked “durable” as their second favorite reason, followed by “long-lasting” and “high-quality.” According to Cary Benson, vice president of sales and marketing for American Leather, an important finding for families with pets and kids, is a significant number of respondents also said they had purchased leather because it’s easy to care for. “Some of the survey findings were expected; however, there are a few that we didn’t anticipate,” said Benson. “Mostly, we are thrilled to see that consumers have become more educated about leather furniture, and in fact see its value as a long-term investment for their homes.” Among New York-area respondents, who had purchased furniture in the past three years, nearly 42 percent said leather furniture was affordable, and another 54 percent said that leather furniture is a good investment. The majority of participants – 72 percent – think leather furniture fits any décor. In New York, for every consumer who bought leather furniture, 58 percent opted for a couch, while 16 percent chose a recliner, 16 percent a chair with ottoman, 11 percent purchased desk chairs, and five percent bought a love seat. When buying new furniture, more than 69 percent plan to put their new purchases in the living room while 31 percent will opt to put leather in the den; more than 15 percent will choose leather for the family room; and another 15 percent want leather in their dining room. “As the survey findings show, our next challenge as an industry is to better demonstrate how leather furniture can be at home in any room in the house,” said Benson. “The next time we poll homeowners, we would love to see them using their leather furniture in some of those unexpected places, such as the kitchen, the bedroom, even the bathroom. Ultimately, we want to see leather furniture representing a lifestyle that is as comfortable and useable as it is stylish.” Additional findings indicated that if you’re like most Americans, when you want something you want it now. So when it comes to waiting for leather furniture to be delivered, nearly 46 percent of respondents said they expect delivery to happen within six weeks. And of the respondents who do, in fact, intend to purchase upholstered furniture in the next 12 to 18 months, they say their top considerations for purchasing leather over fabric would be price (58 percent), comfort (50 percent), and quality (33 percent), among others. Founded in 1990, AMERICAN LEATHER is the design leader and manufacturer of custom upholstered leather furniture, and is recognized as one of Dallas’ 100 fastest growing corporations. The company manufactures and ships custom-made leather furniture worldwide, and showcases its line of traditional, transitional and contemporary furniture at High Point, in San Francisco and through the company’s factory in Dallas.