Upholstery fabrics influence the aesthetic appearance and, somehow, the longevity of your furniture items. Choosing the right fabrics that offer excellent ventilation and protection from moisture and dirt accumulation saves your furniture. However, believing misconceptions and old myths might compromise upholstery fabric quality and ruin your furniture.
These myths could be related to fabric type selection, cleaning methods, and more. You must know about these and immediately stop following them to have durable and sustainable furniture. Stay with Yalla Upholstery to explore the five common fabric upholstery myths and how to avoid them.
5 Most Common Upholstery Fabric Myths That Ruin Furniture
There are a lot of people who think all upholstery fabrics can be cleaned using the same methods. Similarly, they assume that both outdoor and indoor furniture items, such as chairs, sofas, and headboard upholstery, feature the same type of fabrics. However, that’s not true – let’s discuss it in detail.
Myth 1: Natural Fabrics Are Better Than Synthetic Ones
Natural fabrics indeed have resilient features but they don’t play well in all situations. Both of these sofa and chair upholstery fabrics have their personalized properties, strengths, and applications. Following this myth and blindly favoring a single fabric type can unintentionally damage your furniture.
The natural fibers cotton & linen absorb moisture with their loose weave structures. You have to treat them with moisture-resistant coatings to repel moisture. So, they play well with indoor furniture only. On the other hand, synthetic fibers do not absorb water and prevent it from reaching the frame and padding to avoid structural issues for outdoor furniture.
Myth 2: Fabrics With Tighter Weaves Are Always Durable
The 3rd most common myth is that upholstery fabrics with tighter weaves are always durable. Keep in mind that durability depends on some other factors, such as the quality of the fiber, natural and synthetic nature, weave pattern, and finishing process. Consider these factors along with the flexibility and easy cleaning features of fibers to finalize an upholstery fabric.
- Tight weave fibers are less breathable and sometimes attract dirt and moisture, which damages furniture
- These fibers are prone to be easily damaged by sharp objects and expose furniture to dents and scratches
- They easily damage and wear out if you use improper cleaning methods and cause water to reach furniture padding
Myth 3: Same Cleaning Methods For All Fabrics
Every fabric has its own specialized weaving structure and texture, so it requires a specialized cleaning method. Opting for the wrong cleaning method causes fiber weakening, shrinkage, and fading of upholstery fabrics. It exposes your furniture to the outer environment for scratches, stains, and dirt accumulation and damages its sustainability.
In our expert opinion, go for vacuuming, dry cleaning, spot cleaning, and air drying for natural upholstery fibers, such as wool, cotton, velvet, linen, and more. For synthetic fabrics, such as sunbrella, nylon, and olefin, follow steam cleaning methods and use mild detergent solutions.
Pay attention – We recommend you use leather conditioners or enzymatic cleaners for leather upholstery fabrics.
Myth 4: Every Upholstery Fabric Can Handle Kids & Pets
If you have kids and pets with sharp claws in your space, choose furniture upholstering fabric carefully. It’s a myth that every fabric can handle kids and pets – it’s far from true. Popular fabrics like velvet, silk, and cotton can snag and wear under daily tear and weaken the furniture structure.
Consistent scratches and jumps are the reasons for sagging and fiber breakdown. It leads to the padding and frame damage of furniture items. So, we recommend you choose the fibers carefully if you have kids and pets at your place. You can go for microfiber and leather upholstery because of their odor-resistance, ease of cleaning, and durability features.
Myth 5: The Same Fabrics For Indoor & Outdoor Furniture
Thinking of using similar fabric types for indoor and outdoor furniture items isn’t a good decision. It’s a myth that people usually opt for and damage their furniture. For your outdoor furniture, plush and soft fabrics are unsuitable because they are susceptible to moisture and fading from UV light rays. However, you can get sunbrella, olefin, and nylon fabrics for them.
In contrast, your priority is to enhance aesthetics and achieve a comfortable sitting environment with indoor furniture. So, choosing tight weave structure fabrics might not be suitable. However, going for velvet, linen, and wool might be suitable. That’s how you have to choose fabrics considering furniture type.
Wrapping Up!
To sum up, we discussed the 5 fabric upholstery myths that are ruining your furniture. Our experts shared how choosing the same fabric types for indoor and outdoor furniture items is the wrong approach. You must consider various factors beyond a tight weave structure for fabrics because they sometimes offer less flexibility and breathability, which damages furniture.
Both natural and synthetic fabric types have their specialized cleaning methods. Choosing the wrong method might shrink or fade and expose furniture to harsh conditions. They specialize in indoor and outdoor furniture items, and not all can handle kids and pets. Stop following these myths and protect your furniture from being damaged today.
