Question from Nicole
Hi Debra,
First, thank you so much for your site and work – much appreciated!
I have a question about leather furniture – I have a pretty severe dust mite allergy so I avoid fabric upholstery. I understand that most leather furniture is filled with polyurethane foam and many are also coated with a polyurethane sealer. My first question is, does the leather assist in blocking the off-gassing from the foam cushions? And second, is the applied polyurethane surface treatment more toxic than what is found on fabric furniture?
I’ve just purchased two La-Z-Boy leather/blend recliners and the smell is bugging me – thinking I may need to return them but not sure what I can get other than all-wood furniture?!
Thanks so much for your help!
Debra’s Answer
Thanks for asking this question. It sent me into researching a whole other aspect of leather that I didn’t even know about.
First of all, if you had genuine leather, it would have a number of chemicals used in the tanning process. Unless you had “vegetable-tanned” leather, which is actually pretty wonderful. But I’ve not seen furniture made of vegetable tanned leather. But it is a possibility for an expensive custom piece.
But what you have is even worse. Blended leather or”Bonded leather — sometimes called “reconstituted” leather or just plain “ inyl”[!] — is not the whole skin of an animal, but left-over pieces of hide blended together to form a seamless piece of leather material.
It’s a similar process to making particleboard. Yikes!
So what goes into this fake leather?
It is made as a layered structure with
- a fiber or paper backer
- a pulp made from shredded leather and fabric, joined together with adhesive
- a polyurethane layer which is embossed with a leather-like texture.
It may also have other chemical finishes to make it feel or smell like real leather.
I would return these recliners. This is more plastic than leather. I’m not surprised you are having problems with it.
QUORA: What are the differences between a bonded leather sofa to a genuine leather sofa?
CONSUMER AFFAIRS: Bonded Leather Sofas vs Genuine Leather—What’s the Difference?
Here’s an interesting article about the parts of upholstered furniture: GREEN HOME GUIDE: Any recommendations for a healthy leather soda that won’t offers?
Hi Debra,
My friend linked me to your radio slot on extreme health – it was great to hear.
I have MCS and purchased a good quality leather couch, but the coating that was put on it made me so sick. It has been out in the shed for 7 weeks, and the toxin seems to be airing out, but I still would not consider bringing it in the house at this point. It was every expensive and is well made; I live in a very remote area and paid $1300 just to get it transported here so am hopeful it will be able to enter the house at some point (I have a tropical dust mite allergy so bought leather – like the post i just read). If I leave it airing out, do you think it will get to a level where I can have it in my house? I know that is very person specific, but I wonder if you have any general knowledge you could share?
Many materials do outgas over time, but it may be years. I would put it out in the sun as much as you can to speed the process, or in a small heated room if you can. If it were me, I would sell it.