There seems to be this belief that leather office chairs are the ultimate in business furniture – owning one shows that you are ‘at the top’, that you ‘have gotten somewhere’. There should be a buyer beware label attached to leather chairs, however, as they do come with a few problems.

Slipping and sliding
Often, leather chairs have a sleek and smooth finish without a grain (or only a slight one). This means that they offer very little in the way of friction, making it very easy for you to slide off the chair and move around in general. Sitting in your office all day like this cannot be comfortable in the slightest.

Wear on clothes
As leather office chairs have a smooth finish, this means that there is very little resistance between it and your clothes. As you will be moving around on the chair more, you could find that you are ‘polishing’ your clothes (wearing at the piling and fabric).

Hot weather
Whilst some leather chairs are designed to breathe when in use many aren’t, which can cause problems in hot and even warm weather. If you work in an office that isn’t well air conditioned, you will quickly find yourself sweating on hot days and sticking to the leather.

Even though these office chairs look fantastic, you need to take into account all the issues that such a chair presents. You have to ask yourself whether leather ownership is worth the hassles and wear on your clothing that are so common with these executive office chairs.