Sofa Fabric Ideas: The Best Sofa Fabric for Your Home

Your sofa fabric is an important decision. When selecting your perfect sofa fabric, you should have both your lifestyle and your interior style in mind. Perhaps you're shopping for a family home and are in need of a durable family sofa? Or, maybe as a pet-owner you're looking for a dog friendly sofa. Whatever your preference, we offer a vast range of fabrics from leather and velvet to cotton and linen. Plus, sustainable fabric choices are on the rise. Keep reading to find out what fabric is best for you.

Why our fabrics are the most durable

The way that fabrics are tested for durability is through an internationally recognised method called the Martindale test. This is a test where discs with sandpaper or wool are rubbed against a fabric to see how long before it shows distress. Each fabric is then given a numerical score to show how durable it is.

At Raft, our sofa fabrics are of the highest quality. We refuse to accept an average Martindale test score. Historically, a high Martindale test felt synthetic as durability simply didn't equate to luxury. However, with advanced understanding about the makeup of fabrics, there are now fabrics that strike the perfect balance. We invest in quality and that's reflected in our fabric books. Come in store to look through our range of thousands of fabrics from leather and velvet to cotton and linen.

Stain-resistant sofa fabric

Stain resistant sofa fabrics are very popular among our customers that have a hectic family life, pets or hosting homes. If you're looking for a fabric that can withstand the wear of everyday life, this is the best choice for you. At Raft we offer stain resistant fabrics from velvet to cotton blends. These are made from hydrophobic fibres, meaning that any spillage will wipe straight off. This means that these fabrics are perfect for pets and kids.

"Our stain resistant velvets are really popular because they offer everything. They're great looking and also hard-wearing. However, because we offer a stain guard on our other fabrics, too, finding something durable isn't difficult or restricted." - Kamil, North London Store Manager

Our most popular sofa fabric

Today I had a chat with our North London Store Manager, Kamil, and asked him about our most popular sofa fabrics. He explained how personal the experience and how different priorities and tastes will land you with a different fabric. A lot of customers gravitate towards stain-resistant options while place eco credentials at the top of their priority list. For this reason, our new recycled cotton fabric has gone down a storm. Verde is a green recycled cotton. It’s made from 80% recycled pre-consumer cotton from the fashion industry and has been strengthened with 20% nylon. The yarns are not dyed again, saving CO2 and chemicals.

So, it's fair to say that there is no real winner when it comes to the most popular fabric. One pattern we do see time and time again though is that our customers love the signature Raft neutrals. Our Visual Merchandiser works hard to cultivate a calming, organic feel in our showrooms with an earthy and neutral colour scheme. Therefore, it brings us joy to see our customers loving the look and opting for these evergreen fabrics. Despite this, we do offer thousands of different fabrics in a massive range of colours from neutrals to pastels and bright colours and prints.

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