Chairs by Material — Fabric, Leather, Velvet, Wood & Rattan

Every chair wears its material differently, and the difference matters more here than on a bigger piece. One person sits in the same seat, in the same spot, every time — so wear concentrates rather than spreading out. Two chairs in the same cloth can age at completely different rates depending on what they're asked to do.

That's the useful way to approach the choice: start with how the chair will actually be used, then pick the material that suits it. Below you'll find how each one behaves, how to judge a fabric for yourself, and how to match the two.

Fabric and leather chairs

The two mainstays of upholstered seating, and the starting point for most rooms.

Fabric chairs

Fabric gives the widest choice of colour, weave and texture, and it's the warmer thing to sit on — worth something in an Irish winter. It's also the material where hard-wearing and delicate sit closest together, and the difference is in the weave rather than the fibre: a tight flat cloth on a chair used every day will keep its face, while an open, loosely woven one will show the same use far sooner. Fabric chairs suit almost any room, which is why they cover everything from a reading chair to a full set around a table.

Leather chairs

Leather behaves distinctly on a single seat. Because the same person sits in the same place, the front edge of the seat and the tops of the arms take nearly all the movement — and leather responds by softening and moulding there rather than thinning. That's why a leather armchair settles into shape over a few years and starts to feel like yours. On a dining chair the same quality reads differently: less moulding, more of a hard-wearing surface that copes with being pushed in and pulled out several times a day.

Velvet and bouclé chairs

Both are textural rather than plain, and both behave in ways worth knowing before you commit.

Velvet chairs

Velvet's pile catches light, so the same chair reads lighter or darker depending on where you stand and which way the pile is brushed. That's the appeal. The thing to know is that pile crushes where pressure is repeated, and on a chair that's always the same patch of seat — the mark of regular use shows sooner than it would on a sofa, where people sit in different places. Brushing the pile back keeps it even. Velvet suits a chair that's admired as much as used.

Bouclé chairs

Bouclé is the opposite case: its looped, nubbly surface breaks up light instead of reflecting it, which means it hides the everyday marks that show plainly on a flat weave. That makes it more forgiving than it looks in a busy room. The one caution is the loops themselves — anything with a hook or a rough edge, a bag buckle or a ring, can pull a loop proud of the surface. A tight, small loop is more resilient than a big open one.

Wooden and rattan chairs

Not every chair is upholstered, and the unpadded materials answer a different set of questions.

Wooden chairs

A wooden chair has no cover to wear out, which makes it the longest-lived option by some distance — the finish may need attention in time, but the material itself doesn't degrade the way a textile does. Comfort comes from the shape of the seat rather than padding, so a shaped or saddled seat is worth more than it sounds, and a tie-on pad is the usual compromise. In practice the overwhelming majority of wooden chairs are made for the table, which is where you'll find ours.

Rattan and woven chairs

Rattan and woven fibre bring an open, airy quality that solid materials can't: light passes through the weave, so the chair takes up less visual space than its footprint suggests. It's also light to lift, which matters for a chair that gets moved about. Woven work appears in several forms — a full rattan frame, a cane panel set into a wooden back, or a woven paper cord seat, which is a common pairing on dining and counter seating. Worth noting that most rattan sold online is made for the garden; indoor rattan is a different construction and isn't built to sit outside.

Chair materials compared

A quick view of how the six compare on the things that decide a room.

How to judge and care for a chair fabric

You can tell a great deal about how an upholstery fabric will wear by looking at it closely and putting your hands on it. These are the things worth checking, and what to do once the chair is home.

What the weave tells you

Start with how tightly the cloth is constructed. Hold it up to the light or stretch it gently over the seat: if you can see through to the backing, the weave is open, and open weaves abrade faster and snag more easily than close ones. Press a thumb firmly into the seat and let go — a well-made cloth over good padding springs back without holding the impression.

Then look at the surface. A flat, smooth weave has nothing standing proud of it, so there's little for a zip or a buckle to catch; a looped or textured cloth has more to snag but disguises marks far better. Deep pile fabrics sit somewhere between, resisting snags but showing where they've been crushed. None of these is better than the others — they simply fail in different ways, and knowing which failure you'd mind least is the real decision.

Caring for an upholstered chair

Most upholstery damage comes from treatment rather than use. Blot a spill rather than rubbing it — rubbing works the liquid deeper into the weave and can felt the surface of a textured cloth, turning a mark into a patch. Whatever you clean with, test it somewhere that doesn't show, underneath the seat or at the back of the base, and let it dry fully before going near the visible face. Light vacuuming on a low setting, done regularly, does more good than occasional heavy cleaning. And keep a chair out of direct sunlight: sun fades a strong colour faster than any amount of sitting, and it's the one kind of damage no cleaning will reverse.

Matching the material to how the chair is used

With all that in hand, the choice comes down to the job the chair does.

A chair at the table meets food every day and gets dragged in and out, so it wants a surface that copes: leather and wood wipe down, and in fabric a close, flat weave will outlast an open one by a wide margin. A reading chair or a recliner is used for long stretches and, if it moves, the cover is worked over a mechanism every time it's opened — much harder on a textile than sitting still, and the place for leather or the densest cloth you can find. A chair in a bedroom or a quiet corner is the opposite case entirely: used lightly, it can carry a delicate weave, a velvet or a bouclé, because the wear that would show on a dining chair within a year may never show there at all.

The part none of this settles is how a chair feels. Weight, warmth, the way a weave sits under your thumb, whether a colour reads the same in daylight as on a screen — that's what the last five minutes of the decision are actually about. You're welcome to come and handle the ranges at our Enniskillen showroom, where you can feel the difference between a loose loop and a tight one and our team can talk through where the chair is going.

Chair material FAQs

What is the most hard-wearing material for a dining chair?

Wood and leather are the most durable choices for a chair at the table, because both wipe clean and neither has a weave to abrade. If you prefer fabric, choose the closest, flattest weave you can find rather than a loose or looped one — a dining chair is moved and used far more often than most seating, and an open weave shows it quickly.

How can I tell whether a chair fabric will wear well?

Look at the weave rather than the fibre. Hold the cloth to the light: if the backing shows through, the weave is open and will abrade sooner. Press your thumb into the seat and check it springs back without holding the mark. Flat weaves resist snagging but show marks; looped and textured ones hide marks but can be pulled. Handling a fabric tells you more than a description will.

How should I clean an upholstered chair?

Blot spills rather than rubbing, since rubbing pushes liquid deeper into the weave and can felt a textured surface. Test any cleaning product on a hidden area first — under the seat or behind the base — and let it dry completely before treating the visible fabric. Regular light vacuuming does more good than occasional heavy cleaning, and keeping a chair out of direct sun prevents the kind of fading that no cleaning will reverse.

Is bouclé or velvet better for a chair?

Neither outright, and they fail in opposite ways. Bouclé's looped texture hides everyday marks well, but the loops can be pulled by anything with a hook or a rough edge. Velvet resists snagging, but its pile crushes where pressure repeats, which on a single chair means the same patch of seat every time. Bouclé suits a busier room, velvet a chair that is used more gently.