Real leather companies object to FTC's 'bonded' decision
22/09/2010
Important suppliers to the upholstery market, including Universal Leather, have pointed out that so-called bonded leather has too little leather content to merit the name and is, therefore, a confusing term for consumers.
The FTC has decided to allow the use of the term bonded leather provided labels show the percentage of leather fibres in the mix. This means that even companies using large amounts of vinyl are still entitled to use the word leather when promoting their products.
Universal Leather has told leatherbiz: "Of course we believe that if you cannot see, touch or smell the leather shavings they cannot be construed to be leather to the consumer and is misrepresentation."
FTC guidelines offer an example of how a label should read, suggesting: "Bonded Leather Containing 60% Leather Fibres and 40% Non-leather Substances." The amounts are just an example. The FTC has given no lower limit for leather content. Therefore, if an upholstery firm stayed faithful to this, it would run the risk of a negative reaction from consumers if its labels stated, for example: "Bonded Leather Containing 10% Leather Fibres and 90% Non-leather Substances." But this would not prevent it from using leather's image to promote an inferior-quality product.
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