A lot of upholstered furniture is not made with the best grades of foam available. There are many different grades, at various price points, and all foam is not created equal. What’s inside the cover matters and plays a very integral part to your long term comfort and to the overall look of the furniture. You should also know that just because you paid a lot of money for your furniture it does not mean that you received the best foam inside.

What’s Inside Matters

Have you ever looked inside an upholstered sofa or chair? The sketch to the right shows you a cutaway of a chair. All the green parts represent Koosh Natural high resiliency foam in a number of different compressions.

The darker green represents firmer foam and the lighter green can be softer or even super soft foam. Without getting too technical one thing you should know about foam is that the firmness does not determine the quality.

You can get really firm foam that is light-weight and that sags prematurely or you can buy heavier (high-density) and softer foam that will last much longer.

How to Buy a Really Comfortable Sofa

If you are looking to buy a new sofa here is what you should know about the foam so that you can make your shopping experience as successful as possible.

In my experience as a foam supplier, to thousands of upholstery shops and furniture manufacturers over the past 28 years, I have noticed that the majority of furniture makers like to keep it simple when it comes to foam. Few take the time to learn the difference nor do they offer their customers a choice. They stock 2 or 3 different grades because its easier for them but it may not be the best thing for you. We carry 45 different grades. It’s not all the same.

One major retailer that we deal with, buys sheets of replacement foam to service the customers that complain about their seat cushions softening or sagging after just 3 months of use. They seem to think that even if they replace 3 out of 10 customer’s cushions, it is still worth it because they make more money on the majority that don’t complain than what it costs them to satisfy the few that do.

Again, It’s What’s Inside That Counts!

I know I repeated the same heading twice but that is how important it is. When it comes to extending the life of a sofa, the padding under the fabric is everything. Less-expensive sofas wear out more quickly because of a lack of padding between the fabric cover and the frame. Lighter density foam will also sag pre-maturely and cause your fabric or leather to loosen up and become very wrinkly as you continue to sit on it.

The right furniture, filled with high-resiliency foam, will keep fabric looking new and feel more comfotable. If you are ordering a custom sofa, be sure to discuss cushion choices and construction; you should have many options to choose from if you don’t have options or you would like to replace the cushions you have already bought, then you should come in and see us.

Sincerely,

R.C. (Bob) Dimas

Be the best that you can be by doing whatever is necessary to improve the quality of your comfort time!