Question
What is the quality of an England brand sofa? What is the best upper mid-grade sofa on the market today? I have a Broyhill I bought in 2005. It has held up 15 years and still looks great. Needs a spring fixed in the back and have replaced foam in cushions twice. I understand their quality is not as good as it used to be. Thank you for any insight!
Janice
June 4, 2020
Answer
Broyhill’s parent company went bankrupt a few years ago.
All of the intellectual property, including trademarks and brand names were sold to a Chinese company that specializes in buying up well known brand names from defunct companies and then re-selling them (or licensing them) to Asian manufacturers.
In the case of Broyhill, the brand name was sold to Big Lots. The furniture now being produced under the Broyhill name has absolutely no relationship to the Broyhill furniture that you have owned.
If you still like your Broyhill sofa, have it reupholstered. All mid-range sofa brands were better built 15 years ago than the same brands are today (even if the company has remained in business.) Back then Broyhill rated one step above average for mid-range brands.
The reason you are replacing your cushions so often is because you are getting industry standard 1.8 density foam cushions. If you upgrade to a 2.5 (or higher) density foam the cushions will last more than twice as long. Another option is spring down cushions. Those should also last 10+ years.
One reason people think reupholstery is so expensive is because of the high cost of fabrics. Many people use interior designers to find or recommend re-upholsterers. Interior designers routinely recommend fabrics that cost $30 – $60 per yard (or sometimes much more.)
Providing fabrics is one area in which some interior designers can earn substantial bonuses over their normal rates. Since the average sofa uses about 18 yards of fabric (or 24 yards if there is a pattern that needs to be matched) this cost can be significant.
There are many outstanding fabrics available at huge discounts. You can shop online for discount fabrics or you may have discount fabric stores in your area.
Click here for my blog article on this topic, Are 90% off fabric sales really a good deal?
England is LaZBoy’s custom furniture manufacturer. They produce customized furniture within 3 weeks. Overall, the quality is similar to LaZBoy, which is a step below the Broyhill of 15 years ago.
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