16 Sep Superior Feeling
Whistler Leather launched Arch8 at the end of 2019, a sister company dedicated to superior-quality faux leather. Now, the new brand has produced its first faux suede, ‘Tamarindo’, a hardwearing microfibre available in 93 colours.
There is a growing demand for performance faux leather and suede. Available by the metre, it can be used to upholster large surfaces such as headboards and sofas – as pictured in the Whistler Leather showroom, above – without the seams that occur when real hides are used (suede hides are particularly small).
Sourcing suitably high-quality, convincing products has not been easy: Arch8’s initial collection of faux leathers took two years to develop and meets various stringent ratings (Crib 5 for fire retardancy, as well as its marine equivalent, IMO Parts 7 and 8).