posted on March 14, 2001 12:40:51 PM
Does anyone know when faux leather was first produced? I bought some chairs over the weekend which are made of wood and have a material made to resemble leather on the seats, on the back and in a shield shape on the front. The chairs looks old because of the wood and the hardware, but because of this leather-like material I'm guessing they can't be *that* old. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it looks synthetic to me, and not like real leather.
Any idea when the fake stuff started being used?
It's possible they were reupholstered at some point, but the metal studs holding this stuff on look old-ish, too.
posted on March 14, 2001 01:53:41 PM
I had to look up the spelling, but she's right naugahyde was very popular in the fifties. I coulden't find anything about it before then. So it could be 50 years old. Or re-done in naugahyde 50 years ago.
posted on March 14, 2001 02:03:11 PM
50's is kind of what I was thinking, too. These chairs have kind of a "goopy" style with balls and carving on the top, but perhaps they're reproductions of something older.
Could be naugahyde or some kind of vinyl, I'm not sure. It's the kind of stuff that has a pattern in it, like a "cracked desert" effect. Maybe I'll post a pic once I can take one and scan it.
posted on March 14, 2001 04:44:27 PM
That doesn't sound like naugahyde, it's usually softer. I have seen some pretty old chairs with the stuff you're describing. It gets brittle as it ages.
posted on March 14, 2001 05:47:19 PM
Well before Naugahyde (1960s) there was "Leatherette", "Leatherine" and a host of faux leathers. The earliest I can reliably trace thm is the late 1880s, when ground leather was pressed with a glue and heat to make "Compisition leather" picture frames and chair seats.
