Bay Leather Republic Rialto 2.5 Seater

Good quality product, for the budget minded – Frame: The whole lounge suite is insanely heavy, and I’m not entirely sure why, as the Penthouse series seems lighter than the Rialto – and I wouldn’t automatically attribute that to a difference in quality. The 3 seater Rialto sofa requires 3 to 4 people to carry, and it’s painful to move around – the sharp metal leggings don’t help either, and dig into your hands when carrying it around. So due to its weight, repositioning this piece is in the house is painful – hopefully you have wooden/tiles surface to slide it on. Solid wood is used for the backing, rather than being hollow commonly found in lounge suites. The arm rests are also very solidly constructed. Both the backing and arm rests are so solid that I was confident that they wouldn’t break from someone sitting/leaning on them.

Filling:

When it comes to the quality and density of the foam, I’m no expert. I would be assuming that some sort of high density foam is used. The seating held up quite well over time in most seating areas. One of the three seating areas on a 3 seater got damaged, either the suspension support was damaged or wore away – not sure of actual cause. So there was some noticeable sag as it aged.

Upholstery:

Finished in Category 15 leather, which is a highly corrected grain of leather. Possibly highly processed top grain leather, but all the natural markings and grain is lost in the process. The grain appearing on the leather is totally embossed on the leather itself. Being highly processed, it is highly protected, resistant to damage and stains, but doesn’t age as well as some other less processed leathers. Despite the leather being of a lower quality, it is still miles ahead of the competition. The competition usually resorts to using PVC, Poly Urethane, Bonded leathers, Reconstituted leathers and split leathers. Based upon my pinch test, the thickness of the leather used in the Rialto is still very substantial, and comparable to other Bay Leather Republic pieces. Overall the leather finish is very smooth and nice finish, and doesn’t feel or appear overly synthetic or plastic. No cost cutting methods were used in this piece, thus same grade of leather is used all round the whole piece – rather than lower leather grades on the back and arm rests. Also the threads used to stitch this piece together were of a high quality, and didn’t fray.

Finish

The most noticeable attribute is that the seating is non-removable.

Overall:

As mentioned earlier, it’s insanely heavy. At the same time, it’s definitely a good quality piece for the budget minded. In comparison to competition, it’s very good quality lounge piece. But as the entry level range for Bay Leather Republic, it says something about their products. Can't really fault it for its price. Inexpensive, good quality.