What's the Best Worship Chair Upholstery?

Here’s everything you need to know about choosing the right upholstery for your chairs

There are many things to consider when choosing the upholstery for your worship chairs. In general, the industry offers six common materials: Fabric, vinyl, polyurethane, polyolefin, leather, and silicone.

Of these options, we offer four for Bertolini chairs:

Fabric
Vinyl
Polyurethane
Polyolefin

Leather is not offered by Bertolini because it’s a high-end upholstery that is difficult to produce and relatively expensive. Silicone is also expensive costing approximately 10–15 times more than other upholstery.

We’ll breakdown the benefits of fabric, vinyl, polyurethane, and polyolefin below. Read on to learn which type of upholstery is the most popular for churches and why.

Upholstery Features at a Glance


Material	Nylon & polyester blends	Vinyl with a polyester backing	Engineered coated fabric blend	Oil-based plastic blend
Durability	• Resists tears & punctures • Potential moisture damage	• Can puncture • Resists moisture damage	• Can puncture • Potential moisture damage	• Resists all damage including UV-resistance
Feel	• High comfort • Breathes • Soft to the touch	• Low-Medium comfort • Less breathable • Can stick to legs	• Medium-High comfort • Soft to the touch	• Medium comfort • Can be scratchy
Look	Wide variety of patterns, textures, & colors	Wide variety of colors, faux leather options	Wide variety of colors, faux leather options	Wide variety of color with few pattern options
Cost	$$$	$$	$$	$
Performance Finish	Optional	Built in	Built in	Typically not needed
Cleaning & Care	Can stain without performance finish, water-based cleaners only	Easy to clean without damage, resists stains, chemical resistant	Easy to clean, resists stains, only certain cleaners	Easy to clean, resists stains

Fabric Upholstery

The commercial fabric used in church chair upholstery is generally made from cotton, polyester, wool, nylon, polyolefin (or olefin), or a combination of these. The type of fabric will determine durability, look, feel, and cost.

These high-quality fabrics resist tears and punctures. In addition, if the fabric is treated with a performance enhancer, such as Nanotex, InCase, Crypton, iClean, or Alta, it will resist stains and clean easily.

*Please note that Scotchguard and Teflon are not performance treatments. These formulas are sprayed onto a material versus the performance treatments listed above. During performance treatments, the yarn is encapsulated during the process while the material is immersed in a liquid bath.

Vinyl Upholstery

There are also benefits to choosing vinyl including the fact that vinyl is easy to clean and it resists common stains. High-quality vinyl is also easy to disinfect with a solution of bleach and water, without causing damage to the upholstery. However, dye transfer from jeans and bright clothing can occur, so it’s best to still use a protective coating.

Vinyl upholstery accepts many finishes better than polyurethane, which will help protect the furniture from absorbing harmful microbes and bacteria. One of the best things about vinyl is that it comes standard with an antimicrobial top coat.

On the other hand, Vinyl can be more easily punctured by things such as pens and pencils. Low-quality vinyl can even tear when punctured. Additionally, vinyl can be uncomfortable to sit on in warm environments because it doesn’t breathe like fabric.

Polyurethane

Polyurethane is produced using high-grade resins making it stain-resistant, and easy to clean. It generally feels soft and
remains cool to the touch to provide an excellent seating experience over long periods of time. It addition, it looks nice and upholsters well.

Like vinyl, polyurethane can become stained through die transfer from jeans and other fabric. Adding a protective coating can prevent this.

Also, like vinyl, some polyurethane can be more easily punctured than fabric. It doesn’t clean as easily as vinyl and doesn’t perform as well to frequent exposure to moisture.

Polyolefin

When it comes to worship chair upholstery, we’ve saved the best for last! Polyolefin is the most popular upholstery choice for churches. Why?

Rather than being constructed using fabric, polyolefin is made using melted plastic pellets or olefin. This makes it exceptionally durable. It is also stain resistant without having to add a performance finish.

It is also affordable, easy to clean without damage, and it upholsters well. However it can be less comfortable to sit on and coarse to the touch.

Specifically, the most durable and popular polyolefin upholstery for church chairs is Sherpa or Shire. Learn why.

Choosing the right upholstery for your church depends on your top needs and priorities. Do you need upholstery that’s affordable, durable, easy-to-clean, or one that’s available with the most customization options? Once you know what the most important feature for your church is, you can find the right upholstery for your congregation.

If you still have questions, our experts are ready to talk. Find your sales representative here.

Visit bertolinidirect.com/fabrics to see the many options we offer.