Bouclé, weave, velvet or leather with kids and a dog

No fabric is proof against children and dogs, and we won’t tell you one is. What a fabric can be is easy to clean, hard to wear out and forgiving of the marks it does get. Our fabric cards give three facts that tell you how each one behaves: what it is made of, its cleaning code and its double rubs.

Here is what those mean, and how each of our four fabric families has held up in our own homes and in the showroom, where every sofa is sat on all day, seven days a week.

Reading a fabric card

• Cleaning code W: clean spots with water or a water-based upholstery cleaner
• Cleaning code S: use a water-free solvent cleaner only; water can leave a ring
• Double rubs: how many back-and-forth strokes the fabric takes in a standard abrasion test before it shows wear; 15,000 is fine for a sofa, 30,000 and up for one that is used all day

Double rubs tell you how a fabric stands up to sitting, not to claws. For claws, the weave matters more than the number.

Bouclé: soft, and the loops can catch

Our Ivory Bouclé is 100% polyester, cleaning code S, 50,000 double rubs. Its looped yarn hides creases and the odd pull, and it is the softest of our fabrics to sit on. The loops are also what a claw catches. A dog that jumps on and off is usually fine; a cat that kneads, or a puppy that digs, will pull loops. A pulled loop can be trimmed level with small scissors, never cut at the base.

Ivory shows dirt, but not as much as you’d expect: the texture breaks it up. Vacuum it weekly with the upholstery brush and blot spills at once.

Performance weave: the one most families choose

Oat Weave and Charcoal Weave are 100% polyester performance weave, cleaning code W, 100,000 double rubs. The weave is tight and flat, so hair brushes off, claws slide rather than hook, and most spills sit on the surface long enough to blot. Water and a drop of mild soap take care of nearly everything. It is the fabric we suggest for a sofa that is also a dog bed, a trampoline or a dining table, and it is what the Lowell Sofa in our studio has worn for two years.

Choose the color closest to your dog. Light hair shows on Charcoal and dark hair on Oat, and you will brush less with the right one.

Velvet: deep color, and it shows where you sat

Olive Velvet and Rust Velvet are 100% cotton velvet, cleaning code S, 35,000 double rubs. The pile is short and dense and takes the light beautifully, and it marks: paws and hands brush the pile in another direction, which looks like a darker patch until you brush it back. Some people love that; some find it fussy. Velvet does well on a chair like the Bram Lounge Chair or the Pell Swivel Chair, which gets less of the daily traffic a sofa does.

Velvet is made to order, so it ships in 7–9 weeks. Order a swatch and rub it with your hand before you decide.

Leather: it scratches, and it looks better for it

Our Cognac Leather is full-grain aniline, cleaning code S. Aniline leather has no painted surface, so it feels like leather and ages like leather: it darkens where you sit and lean, and a claw leaves a fine scratch. Most light scratches fade when you rub them with a warm hand; deeper ones become part of the patina. If you want a sofa that looks new in ten years, choose the weave. If you want one that looks lived in, choose the leather.

Keep leather out of strong direct sun and feed it with a leather conditioner once or twice a year. It is made to order too, in 7–9 weeks.

What we would choose

• A dog that sleeps on the sofa: Oat or Charcoal Weave
• Small children and snacks: performance weave, then leather
• A cat that kneads: performance weave or leather, not bouclé
• A reading chair in a quiet room: anything, including velvet

The only way to be sure is to see the fabric at home, in your light, next to your floor and your dog. Order up to five swatches free with any order, or come to the showroom and sit on all six.