The Advantages and Disadvantages of Microfiber Furniture

Microfiber furniture is all over ‘home care’ news nowadays. People seem to have fallen deeply in love with it. The microfiber furniture in question, by the way, is fiber based on a man-made material known by the same name (microfiber); which is said to be higher refined material that is smaller than human hair (strands) in average diameter.

Now as is the case with anything that grows into a trend, people tend to notice only one side of the story when micro fiber furniture is in discussion. They tend to look at only the advantages of microfiber furniture (which are being harped about everywhere you look). But they don’t get to look at the possible disadvantages of the said microfiber furniture. In order not to fall into the same trap, we will briefly look at both the advantages and disadvantages of microfiber furniture.

Starting with the advantages, there is no denying that one of the biggest advantages of fiber furniture lies in the fact that it is very low maintenance furniture. The low maintenance advantage of micro fiber furniture comes out of the fact that microfiber material tends to not only be non abrasive and lint free, but it is also suitable for high tech cleaning.

Besides easy maintenance, another advantage associated with microfiber furniture is the aesthetic advantage. Few people – except ‘natural romantics’ – will contest with the fact that microfiber furniture tends to be more attractive than furniture based on traditional materials like leather. In any case, being seen with microfiber furniture will tend to influence people into viewing you as a person who is ‘with it.’ In other words, micro fiber furniture is fashionable, and that – even without other tangible benefits – would be an advantage in itself.

Another advantage associated with microfiber fabrics (out of which microfiber furniture is made) is that microfiber tends to be ultra-lightweight. This adds further to making it easy to care for. On a related note, it also tends to be friendlier to the skin than leather, which sometimes feels too cold when your bare skin comes into contact with it.

So much for the advantages of fiber furniture. But microfiber furniture also comes with a number of disadvantages.

For one, although the cost of micro fiber furniture is progressively falling over the years, there is still a feeling that it is still beyond the reach of many people. The high cost of microfiber furniture would be hardly surprising, when you take into consideration the technology that goes into the making of the microfiber fabric.

On another note, there has been a concern that fiber furniture is not as durable as furniture made from traditional materials, like say leather. It is not that the microfiber fabric falls apart very fast (in fact it can stay intact for remarkably long periods of time), but rather that it tends to lose its aesthetic appeal with time. When subjected to a lot of wear and tear factors, microfiber has been known to fall apart faster than its substitutes like leather.

There are also some people who feel that in the long run, micro fiber furniture can be rather expensive to maintain; the fact that ‘easy maintenance’ is one of the advantages quoted with regard to it notwithstanding. They take note that although ease of cleaning is indeed one of the advantages of microfiber, it is also more attractive to dust, and that dust tends to stick on it once hooked. This is unlike the behavior of leather in that regards; where leather is widely seen as a microfiber substitute.