Is there a cheaper alternative to Alcantara

tudorsailor

tudorsailor

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The seats in the saloon on our 2001 yacht have not fared well and need recovering. This will take 20m of material.
They are covered in Alcantara at present. However the fabric is £80 a metre!
Is there an alternative faux suede that will do the job at a better price? (I have looked for a deal on Ebay but cannot find one)

Thanks

TS
 
We used Novasuede, which has worn well so far, the odd small spill cleaning up perfectly. IIRC the list price was then (a few years ago) ca. £115/m but we got part of the end of season ‘bin end’ of a yacht manufacturer, at huge reduction, from https://endoflinefabrics.co.uk/collections/leather-suede.

They don’t appear to have any at present, and when they did the number of colours and patterns was very limited, but it may be worth keeping an eye on that page - you might get lucky as we did. They also have other (less expensive) makes of artificial suede from time to time, and were very helpful to deal with and quick to send fabric samples and specifications. (No other connection etc.)
 
Hydrozoan said:
We used Novasuede, which has worn well so far, the odd small spill cleaning up perfectly. IIRC the list price was then (a few years ago) ca. £115/m but we got part of the end of season ‘bin end’ of a yacht manufacturer, at huge reduction, from https://endoflinefabrics.co.uk/collections/leather-suede.

They don’t appear to have any at present, and when they did the number of colours and patterns was very limited, but it may be worth keeping an eye on that page - you might get lucky as we did. They also have other (less expensive) makes of artificial suede from time to time, and were very helpful to deal with and quick to send fabric samples and specifications. (No other connection etc.)
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You were lucky. They have no Novasuede and say that they rarely have plain colours!

TS
 
When I saw Alcantara I thought how good it looked, then I saw thd price!
I went round several habadashers (there's a word not used much these days) and found that there were several cheaper lookalikes. It's something that you need to handle to get the feel of as they do vary in feel.

PS As you can see from this site https://www.fabric-online.co.uk/faux-suede
It comes in different weights.
 
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tudorsailor said:
You were lucky. They have no Novasuede and say that they rarely have plain colours!

TS
Click to expand...

Yes we were very lucky - but even then they had only two colours, and plain and two (subdued) patterns in one of them. We were not intending to reupholster immediately, but at £15-20 a metre IIRC decided to jump! I'm sorry that they have nothing at present, but thought it worth alerting you. Following on from LiB's comment, one thing I did - in addition to getting specs of course - was to test samples with red wine and coffee, and I would suggest that as surface finishes and treatments may vary.
 
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have you tried looking on Ebay USA for Ultrasuede, which if I understand correctly, is the same stuff as Altcantra but sold under a differnt brand name in the USA?
 
I recently had my upholstery replaced and was offered a selection of fabrics, all designed for marine or heavy duty use. Prices were reasonable and the quality very good. Have a word with Graham at SLC marine upholstery, i'm sure he could suggest something.

http://www.slcupholstery.co.uk/

Cheapest won't be best and i doubt it will be worth the work.
 
Minn said:
Looking at the Alcantara seats in my car, I do wonder if the stuff is tough enough? It withstands ordinary heavy use, but it is very vulnerable to the sort of sharp pointed objects that are commoner in yacht cabins than in cars...
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You're Errol Flynn and I claim my £5! :) I don't know about Alcantara, but Novasuede comes in different backing weights I believe, different for headlinings, seating etc. I don't think ours is less resilient than the velour-type fabric it replaced, and others on this forum have used it I believe. But it always pays to buy a spare length for the longest seat panel you have, I think.
 
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