When creating a movie room in your home, you likely envision stadium-style rows of elevated leather theater chairs leading to a giant projector screen where you’ll watch hundreds of movies with your family and friends and create memories that will last in that room surrounded by some seriously great entertainment furniture. And don’t get us wrong – curated, luxurious leather multimedia furniture is our specialty – but we also know leather isn’t for everyone. Just because leather is a timeless material doesn’t mean you have to go with it when looking for ideas for new pieces of theater furniture. It might be a high-end material for theater seating, but there are plenty of other options out there.
Whether it’s not your design aesthetic, you disagree with the use of animal products, or you need something a little more up to rowdy kids, fun parties and your Great Dane who doesn’t know he’s 150lbs, fabric home theater seating is a great option instead of leather, too.
Theater seating that isn’t made of leather, such as fabric, often gets looked down on when it comes to design because those other materials aren’t deemed as “stylish” as leather, and you don’t see it used as often on Pinterest boards and design publications when it comes to home theater seating ideas. As the saying often goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and fabric theater seating can be just as viable of an option, if not better in some cases.
Non-leather theater seating doesn’t mean less-nice theater furniture; it’s an unexpected choice that can really elevate a space, as well as make it versatile. Not feeling locked into theater seating made out of leather can actually open up doors of possibilities for what you can do with your entertainment room and what sorts of looks and styles you can achieve.
Fabric theater seating is very customizable in color and design – get the leather look with vegan leather, get a clean, cozy vibe with microfiber, or go with the look of old royalty with velour-upholstered movie theater seating. But how do you choose? Each of these materials have different advantages and drawbacks, and not all fabric and vegan leather theater seating are made equally. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of alternative options to leather for your home theater’s seating setup—after all, with more options comes more design inspiration for your home theater furniture.
Microfiber Multimedia Furniture: Pros & Cons
Microfiber makes some of the most comfortable theater seating out there. Made from a blend of polyester and nylon fabrics, its impossibly plush and pillowy texture makes it a high-end theater seating material in its own right. Its suede-like appearance is soft to the touch, luxuriously comfortable to sit on, and you can get it in a bunch of different colors. If you have cats who like to scratch around your seating, microfiber might actually hold up better than other home theater seating options since the fabric is so tight-knit, it’s known to not be as appealing for cats as looser-weave fabrics, such as cotton. Other advantages of microfiber-upholstered theater seating are:
- Hypoallergenic
- Resists scratches and tears
- Repels water/easy to clean
- Fade-resistant
There are some characteristics of microfiber media room furniture that aren’t for everyone. One is that some people just don’t like the feel of it on their skin. Another is that, while microfiber is somewhat spill-resistant, if you really want that bead-up-and-roll-off-the-chair waterproof quality, you’ll have to use treated microfiber.
Microfiber also doesn’t wear as well as leather, which looks better with age, as opposed to worn. However, there are leather look-alike microfibers for home theater seating. And another thing you can’t overlook when comparing microfiber fabric to leather seating is that microfiber is virtually no-maintenance, and it repels dust and lint particles, making it an excellent choice for those who have allergies. Beyond that, microfiber furniture is notoriously easy to clean—seriously, all you need is a vacuum or a soft fabric brush, and it’s good as new.
When shopping for microfiber seating, darker colors may be a better option here—when looking at reviews for entertainment room seating, many people with lighter-colored microfiber sofas claim they begin to look more worn and faded in color quicker than other color options. As always, choosing a reputable brand who uses consistent, quality materials will more often than not reward you with a product that can stand the test of time better than others.
Pro-tip: If you’re looking for ideas for entertainment room seating and are considering microfiber, see if you can find some sample swatches of the particular fabric you’re looking at. Bring them home, and get to work with pouring different liquids and foods on it, and see which is easiest to clean up. If the microfiber fabric is of decent quality, most liquids will bead up and wipe down without any trace of staining.
Vegan Leather Theater Seating: Pros & Cons
Faux leather upholstery for movie chairs and other entertainment room seating has come a long way in the last few years. Whether you’re a firm believer in keeping animal products out of the home or you don’t have the budget at the moment for some leather entertainment room seating, vegan leather has a ton of positives associated with it.
With vegan leather seats, you won’t have to perform all of the maintenance associated with keeping its natural leather counterpart looking pristine—that means no conditioning, rehydrating, and routine cleaning.
One of the best parts of vegan leather entertainment seating is that while its faux, it looks like the real deal. With advancements in production and quality, faux leather is starting to appear as anything but when purchased from a quality company. In turn, you get the “real deal” leather look for significantly less. And believe it or not, this technically-not-leather theater seating not only mimics the look and feel of leather, but has other advantages as well:
- Wide array of color options
- Low-maintenance
- Doesn’t wear over time like leather
- Super-durable
A couple drawbacks to vegan leather are its lack of breathability – you can get a bit sweaty sitting in a vegan leather theater chair for too long, especially as the weather gets warmer or if your home theater is kept on the warmer end. And some people like the way leather ages; you don’t get that with non-leather upholstered movie theater seats.
One of the other drawbacks of vegan leather seating in general, is that it’s a more environmentally wasteful product, being made up entirely of plastic. Whereas genuine leather theater chairs are made of just that—leather—and are made from cows who would have raised for meat regardless. Faux leather is also not hypoallergenic, and it has the potential to attract dust, allergens, and pet hair. While faux is easy enough to clean and wipe down, real leather is completely hypoallergenic.
Unlike the real deal, vegan leather is mostly resistant to water and other liquids, given that it’s not porous like real leather—naturally, this means your faux leather theater seating will be simple enough to clean—a few wipes with a damp cloth, and you’ll have some sparkling clean entertainment room chairs. Faux leather media furniture also doesn’t last as long as genuine leather that’s properly maintained. But the price tag for vegan leather over leather makes it a great choice for budget-friendly home cinema seating.
Velour Movie Chairs: Pros & Cons
Typically made from short-pile cotton, but sometimes made synthetically as well, the thing about this type of theater seating is that, from the moment you see it, you recognize exactly what it is. Velour is an iconic fabric, and part of that recognition is the soft, velvety, high-end look. Theaters used to adorn their chairs in velour upholstery for a reason—it’s ridiculously comfortable and quality velour looks like it could belong in a palace. Velour also has an advantage over leather if you’re needing sound absorption rather than reflection in a basement home theater setup. Sound-absorbing fabrics such as velour work by taking in sound waves and then converting them to heat energy, preventing the sound from traveling any further. Other advantages to choosing velour as the fabric to upholster your home theater chairs in are:
- Stretchy and soft
- Low-maintenance
- Durable
- Available in many textures and colors
Some cons to velour multimedia furniture are its susceptibility to being stained by liquid spills, and attracting things like pet hair, dander, and dust. The other issue with velour, which shouldn’t be a problem in a home theater room, is that furniture covered in a fabric like velour is easily damaged by sun exposure. However, since it’s technically a knit, it can handle rowdy kids, so long as no one has a sippy cup full of grape juice. Velour fabric does have the potential to “bruise” more so than other fabrics, meaning it can discolor due to repeated scuffing or abrasion of the fabric. If you do choose velour entertainment room chairs, take care when interacting with the fabric and be gentle with it while cleaning to preserve the integrity of the fabric.
Already thinking about incorporating velour media seating in your home theater? Read up on its rich history in movie theaters and how and why it should play a role in yours.
Valencia’s Fabric Home Theater Seating: Quality, Luxury, Comfort
Just as we carefully curate all our leather collections, so, too, do we put care and thought into the fabric options we offer for custom home theater seating. Regardless of your choice of upholstery, the construction and attention to detail of our media room furniture is what makes Valencia’s home movie room seating so comfortable. But what makes it the most comfortable home theater furniture is that care and curation that goes into every option we offer for leather or fabric theater chairs, sectionals, sofas, chaise lounges – you name it.
Fabric and other non-leather home theater seating is just as dynamic and designer of an option as its leather counterparts, and in some cases, like media rooms that are multi-use spaces, can be a better choice for look, feel, comfort, and function. It all comes down to you, the customer, and your needs for your own unique home theater. So take a look at our 3D Build feature and play around with customizing your multimedia seating with non-leather options.