The frequently asked questions
We often receive questions about crease formation in sofa or armchair upholstery. Crease formation is part of the comfort of our furniture, which means it’s not something that can be prevented. But we can understand that you would like to know more about how much crease formation is acceptable. You can find more explanation and answers to frequently asked questions on this page.
Why do creases form?
When you sit on furniture, you exert pressure on the padding and upholstery. That pressure stretches the upholstery material slightly. When you stand up again, the underlying form regains its volume. However, the cover can become slightly roomier. This makes the upholstery fit less tightly and causes creasing. Certainly if a sofa has a soft top layer for ‘soft’ comfort, this layer gives less ‘upwards pressure’ to tighten the upholstery again after use.
How quickly does this happen?
Most crease formation occurs in first period of use and doesn’t really increase after that. After around 4 to 6 months, the material will have formed itself entirely to your shape.
Can’t you upholster more tightly?
There are two reasons why we don’t do that. First of all: the comfort. Hard seating furniture where the padding offers so much resistance that the upholstery remains ‘tight’ is not comfortable. Such furniture doesn’t shape around your body. Moreover, sleek and tight upholstery is very risky. All the tension is then exerted on the upholstery seam, which can cause the seam to tear. These two reasons are why we consciously give extra room when developing our furniture as this allows the upholstery to move with the padding and ensure comfort.
Can I prevent crease formation?
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to prevent crease formation entirely. But you can limit this. The first months are really important for this. During that time, make sure you sit equally in all areas of the seat. This ensures that the above-mentioned margin in the upholstery is distributed as evenly as possible. It also helps if you regularly use your hands to spread the upholstery over the seat surface after you stand up. Frequently plump up ‘down-filled’ padding (both natural and synthetic materials).
Can you remove creasing?
If the creasing is significant and beyond acceptable boundaries, there are possibilities to reduce this, for example, by taking in the upholstery or adding to the padding. The latter option certainly has consequences for seating comfort.
My old Leolux sofa hardly had any crease formation. Why is that?
Sofas are constructed and upholstered differently today. We use foam that is less hard to offer more comfort, but the surface elements of sofas are also different today than in the past. They offer more comfort, but this increases the likelihood of crease formation. It may even be part of the design.
To what extent is creasing acceptable?
Crease formation is an unavoidable feature of upholstered seating furniture. That’s why there are also standards for this. These standards indicate the extent to which crease formation is acceptable. It’s also good to know that there are three different types of upholstery: tight, loose and very loose.
1) Tight upholstery: furniture in which the structure is built ‘hard’ so that the upholstery is slightly stretched. You mainly see this in models with ‘springs’, but the Leolux collection does not include such models.
2) Loose upholstery: seating furniture in which the design and structure focus on comfort, and a margin for movement and comfort is incorporated in the upholstery. Most Leolux furniture is developed like this.
3) Very loose upholstery: furniture with a particularly soft seat. When such furniture is new, you already see clear creasing, or you feel a cotton-like structure beneath the upholstery. This upholstery is used in some of our models.
All Leolux seating furniture is upholstered loose or very loose. Comfort is, after all, the most important feature of our products. That’s why we give upholstery the space to move, which creates that comfort feeling. For very loosely upholstered furniture, the creases are even part of the design. That’s why the guidelines for maximum crease formation also focus on category 2: loosely upholstered furniture.
The guideline
During use, the dimensions of the seat cover may increase by around 3%.
Measuring crease formation
First smooth out the upholstery with your hands. After that, sit in the centre of the seat surface. Stand up and smooth out the upholstery again. Use the flat of your hands without exerting too much pressure and move your hands from the outer edges of the left and right seams until they meet at the centre.
Now measure the height of the biggest crease in the centre, without pushing the tape measure into the upholstery. This is the crease height. You then compare this against the width of the seat surface, from seam to seam. Calculation example: for a seat width of 700 millimetres the height of the biggest crease may not be more than 20 millimetres.
More information? Contact us
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact the Leolux service department specialists, via service@leolux.nl or via telephone number +31 77 3877 222 (available during office hours).