Designers & upholsterers using their own leather for re-upholstery or custom made furniture are often challenged with determining how much leather is required. To understand the quantity of leather needed to cut for a job you will learn proven formulas to make the calculation. Cutting yield is the mathematical equation used to determine the gross square footage needed to have enough to cut out the net SF for all patterns. For example, say you’re reupholstering a club chair that has 100 net SF in the piece.
How do you find the gross square footage of leather required for a given project?
The very best cutting yield in a furniture factory, cutting large and small pieces, is around 70%. Meaning 70% of the leather ends up in the piece, and 30% is waste. The waste factor is due to the irregular shape of a cowhide, plus any holes or unhealed natural markings. Therefore, you need 142 SF of leather to retain 100 SF required for the club chair. (100 ÷ 0.70 = 142 SF)
Note: Natural markings are “nested” on the hide with seat tops, back cushions, armrests, and facing patterns laid out first in the prime areas, then cushion boxing, no show areas, and outside backs get strategically placed on the remainder of the hide.
Net SF ÷Yield Factor = Gross Leather Required
Cutting yields range from 70% on the high side to 50% on the low side.
A yield of 70% would be a piece with most patterns on the smaller side, generally with many seams in the finished piece. Small leather pieces are seamed together to create larger leather panels. Larger pieces with 30”- 40” seat cushions and large seamless backs, will have the highest waste factor. Most people prefer the seamless look, large leather panels, and very few seams. Making a piece this way is more expensive as it requires a larger quantity of leather to cut. The chair example above could take 200 gross SF if it were upholstered with only large leather panels. (100 / .50 = 200 SF)
Typically a seam is every 10 inches. Most retailers have 84″ long sofas.
Understanding this concept and the appearance of the finished piece, many seams or large clean seamless panels can easily be viewed at any furniture showroom. Typically a seam is every 10 inches. Most retailers have 84” long sofas in the $2,000 price range. Look at the cushions or its back and count the seams. Next, look at their more expensive 84” sofa, the cushions will be full pieces of leather. The entire back may have only one seam. It takes twice as many hides to cut solely large panels to make a clean seamless piece of leather furniture. This concept is not unlike large floral repeats in a fabric where it requires more fabric vs a solid to meetup the match lines of the pattern.
COL’s tend to be between 50-60%.
Most COL’s where we work with custom workrooms for higher-end clients the yields tend to be between 50-60%. To be safe you can figure 181 SF of leather is required to cover a piece requiring 100 net SF. At Keleen Leathers, we’re happy to review your cut sizes to estimate yield so that you’re not running short of leather or faced with having to add seams just to increase the cutting yield.