Fast Facts: Upholstery Construction  and Materials

** High-end furniture manufacturers often advertise that they use “eight-way, hand-tied springs” to give their upholstered sofas and chairs a firm, comfortable sit. This traditional construction method involves fastening webbing to a sofa or chair frame, attaching heavy-gauge steel coils to the webbing and tying each coil by hand eight times—from front to back, side to side and diagonally.

** Some upholstery manufacturers use sinuous springs—also called no-sag or zigzag springs—to make their seating products. These S-shaped, steel springs typically are attached to a sofa or chair frame via clips, and fastened together with heavy-gauge wire or tied together with spring twine, which is attached to the frame.

** Sofa and chair cushions are made from a variety of materials. The type of material used affects the seating comfort of a sofa or chair and its cost. Common cushion types:

Down and/or feathers. Down- or feather-filled cushions, or a combination thereof, tend to be more expensive than their foam-filled counterparts. Down-filled cushions provide a soft, comfortable sit, but need to be “fluffed” regularly.

Flexible polyurethane foam. This material is popular with furniture manufacturers because it’s inexpensive and comes in a variety of thicknesses and firmnesses, making it suitable for seat and back cushions. According to “The Furniture Industry’s Guide to Today’s Flexible Polyurethane Foam,” a report from the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry of the American Chemistry Council, more than 2.1 billion pounds of FPF are produced every year in the United States—enough to make approximately 140 million sofas.

Polyurethane foam core wrapped in a down-filled casing. This construction offers the firm support of foam and the softness of down.

Natural and synthetic latex foam. Natural latex foam is made from sap collected from rubber trees (a renewable resource), making it eco-friendly, but also expensive. Synthetic latex foam, on the other hand, is made with petrochemicals, to which natural latex is sometimes added.

** More upholstery manufacturers today are making it easier for environmentally conscious consumers to go green when furnishing their homes by offering sofas and other seating made with responsibly harvested wood, water-based adhesives and finishes, eco-friendly fabrics and plant-based foam cushions. For instance, some furniture manufacturers are now using foam cushions made from soy-based ingredients such as Cargill Inc.’s BiOH polyols. According to the company, foams made with its BiOH technology typically have levels of renewable content ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent.

** Frame style and fabric color are key considerations when purchasing a new sofa, chair or other piece of upholstered furniture. After all, the item should complement a room’s existing decor and not look outdated after a short time. Choosing the right fabric type is critical, too, both from an aesthetic and functional standpoint. A durable, washable fabric, for instance, is ideal for a sofa destined for the family room, while a luxurious velvet might be the perfect fabric choice for an accent chair in a master bedroom. Furniture manufacturers cite linen/cotton, chenille, jacquard wovens and velvet, as well as leather, as the top requested upholstery fabrics.

** New textiles made from organic or natural materials—which are typically renewable resources—give environmentally conscious consumers more options when buying upholstered furniture:

• Bamboo fabric is a soft textile made from the fibers of bamboo, a perennial tropical grass.
• Organic cotton is grown without the use of pesticides and other chemicals.
• Organic linen is made with flax fibers, which have been used for thousands of years to make linen.
• Hemp fabric is made from hemp, a member of the mulberry family. Hemp has been grown for thousands of years to make textiles and paper.
• Soy textiles are made with discarded soybean hulls. They’re soft, absorb moisture and antimicrobial.