{"id":8864,"date":"2018-10-05T07:28:18","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T21:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/?p=8864"},"modified":"2020-06-20T00:22:02","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T14:22:02","slug":"cloth-versus-leather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/blog\/cloth-versus-leather\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloth Versus Leather"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"There are two main choices these days when it comes to what the interior designers of new cars put on the seats: cloth and leather. Leather is definitely the material of choice for luxury cars, but if you ever find yourself in a situation where one of the key differences between two variants is what\u2019s on the seats, is it really worth it going for the leather just because it\u2019s posher? \u00a0If you\u2019re into keeping up with the Joneses, then this one\u2019s a no-brainer \u2013 you go for the more expensive one with the leather \u2013 but what if you\u2019re a bit cannier with your cash?<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the days of vinyl have gone, so that\u2019s not an option. Those of us who are old enough to remember vinyl seats or who have ridden in classics with this type of upholstery know perfectly well why vinyl seats aren\u2019t found in modern vehicles.\u00a0 About the only good thing you could say about vinyl was that it was easy to clean. It was slippery when cold or if you had long trousers on. In hot weather and for those wearing shorts, vinyl became sticky but not like spilt jam \u2013 more like clingfilm on steroids grabbing bare skin.\u00a0 It also got really hot on a summer day \u2013 add in the hot seat belt buckle on old-style seatbelts and you got your very own personal torture chamber.\u00a0 I\u2019m shuddering with the memory.<\/p>\n

However, back to today.\u00a0 There you are evaluating two models that are more or less the same apart from the upholstery.\u00a0 What do you need to say before you say \u201cI\u2019ll go for the one with the leather seats\u201d?<\/p>\n

Leather is, of course, a natural material.\u00a0 It\u2019s the skin of some animal, probably a cow, sheep or possibly a goat.\u00a0 Given the popularity of beefsteaks around the world and the size of a cattlebeast, what you see on the seats of a luxury car probably came from a cow.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a vegan or a PETA supporter, then this fact might be the deciding factor for you and you\u2019ll go for the cloth.\u00a0 However, if you\u2019re omnivorous, then you may see the use of leather as car upholstery as a wise way of using meat byproducts and a sustainable choice (yes, cloth seats are usually acrylic or nylon sourced from plastics).<\/p>\n

Here, you might have questions about the difference between Nappa leather and ordinary leather.\u00a0 Nappa leather is a natural animal skin leather that has been tanned and dyed in a particular way to make it smooth and even.\u00a0 Nappa leather tends to have a more durable finish and is softer and more pliable.\u00a0 It\u2019s the softness that adds the extra level of luxury and why the really top-end models are trimmed in Nappa leather rather than common or garden leather.\u00a0 It also tends to come from something more delicate than cowhide, such as goat or sheep.<\/p>\n

Alcantara, however, is an artificial leather \u2013 OK, it\u2019s cloth!\u00a0 It\u2019s stain-resistant and flame-retardant, and it has a scrummy finish that feels like suede.\u00a0 The flame-retardant properties of Alcantara mean that it\u2019s widely used in racing cars, and this is why it\u2019s popular in sports and supercar models, similar to other racing-inspired accessories and styling.\u00a0 Alcantara is a brand-name, unlike Nappa leather and all the other seat materials, and it\u2019s produced by one single factory in Italy, which means that it\u2019s a bit more exclusive and more expensive than other cloth.<\/p>\n

There are other synthetic leathers around the place.\u00a0 They\u2019re called things like \u201cPU leather\u201d, \u201cpleather\u201d, \u201cleatherette\u201d, \u201cvegan leather\u201d and \u201cfaux leather\u201d.\u00a0 One company produces a leather substitute made from pineapple fibres but this isn\u2019t used for car seat upholstery \u2013 or at least not yet.<\/p>\n

The sort of cloth used for upholstering vehicle seats is usually some sort of synthetic material because this tends to be more durable than natural fibres such as wool, linen, tencel or cotton.\u00a0 Car manufacturers haven\u2019t tried upholstering seats with natural plant-sourced fibres in an attempt to be more sustainable\u2026 at least not yet.\u00a0 Cloth is cheaper than leather because it doesn\u2019t need quite as much cutting, stitching and shaping as leather.\u00a0 Synthetic cloth comes out of the factory in nice regular shapes of an even and predictable width.\u00a0 Cows and goats aren\u2019t quite such a nice, regular shape, so leather seats require more work; hence the extra cost.<\/p>\n

So what are the pros and cons of each upholstery material type?<\/p>\n

Leather:<\/p>\n

Pros: Natural material from a renewable source, soft (especially in the case of Nappa), durable, looks amazing, smells nice, doesn\u2019t give off nasty chemical gases<\/p>\n

Cons: Stains easily, gets scuffed and scratched by doggy paws and small children\u2019s shoes, absorbs bad smells, comes from a dead animal that may have been killed for the skin, doesn\u2019t like getting wet and especially hates salty seawater<\/p>\n

Cloth:<\/p>\n

Pros: Cheap, comes in a range of colours and patterns, more forgiving of children, dogs and seawater<\/p>\n

Cons: Synthetic material from a non-renewable source, can give off weird gases when new, doesn\u2019t look quite as upmarket as leather.<\/p>\n

Alcantara:<\/p>\n

Pros: Flame-resistant, stain-resistant, comes in a range of colours, racing heritage, nice suede-like feel, exclusive and upmarket<\/p>\n

Cons: A beast to clean, synthetic material from non-renewable sources<\/p>\n

To sum up the bottom line about what sort of fabric you want under your bottom, it really depends on your lifestyle and your values.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve got messy small children or dogs that jump on the seat, then leather isn\u2019t for you.\u00a0 If you love to spend heaps of time at the beach and you are likely to get salt water on your clothes and other bits that you are likely to chuck onto the back seat, leather probably isn\u2019t for you either.\u00a0 Cloth is also going to appeal to those who want to save a few bucks, as it\u2019s cheaper.\u00a0 Leather looks gorgeous and is a natural material from a renewable resource, but if you\u2019re more of a vegan-and-PETA type, then you\u2019ll steer clear of it.<\/p>\n

And if you have a classic car with a vinyl seat, do yourself a favour and buy a set of seat covers if you haven\u2019t already! http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/avtokredit.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are two main choices these days when it comes to what the interior designers of new cars put on the seats: cloth and leather. Leather is definitely the material of choice for luxury cars, but if you ever find yourself in a situation where one of the key differences between two variants is what\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8864"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11172,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8864\/revisions\/11172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}