Pottery Barn Leather Sofa Review (Good Quality Or Not?)

Pottery Barn might be one of the most well recognized brand names in the housewares and furniture space. Known for its neutral colors and clean lines, the brand has built a big fooprint in the US, with over 180 retail brick and mortar locations. However, Pottery Barn has a bit of a checkered past in terms of the quality of its furniture.

My conclusion on Pottery Barn and the quality of its furniture?

Pottery Barn offers very attractive, modern furniture pieces with some of the most attractive designs in the home decor market. However, due to the company's massive overhead costs, customers will sacrifice some quality in order to get what I would consider to be lower to mid tier quality furniture. 

If you have any experience with Pottery Barn furniture, please leave a comment below or feel free to email me personally at tom@bestleathercouches.com

What's The Background Of Pottery Barn?

Pottery Barn is a subsidiary of publicly traded company Williams-Sonoma, which also owns other companies like West Elm, which we have also reviewed previously.

Pottern Barn was founded in 1949 by Paul Secon and his brother Morris. The business was started by chance, after the wife of Morris Secon discovered a treasure trove of stoneware at a yard sale.

Secon contacted the designer and arranged for a purchase of 2500 pieces of stoneware to launch their first store in Manhattan. They eventually expanded to a total of seven stores throughout New York.

In the 1960s, the Secon brothers sold the Pottery Barn company to a group of investors. The investors then hired designer Donald Fisher (the founder of Gap) to create a line of furniture that would be sold exclusively at Pottery Barn stores.

Pottery Barn's signature style was characterized by clean lines, natural materials, and a neutral color palette. The business was utimately sold to Gap and then eventually sold to Williams-Sonoma in 1986.

While the Secon brothers initially sold a variety of housewares, including ceramics and glassware, the Pottery Barn of today offers a significant variety of different types of furniture as well. 

Today, there are 183 Pottery Barn stores throughout the US, with the most stores in California with a total of 28 stores. Pottery Barn also has two other brand stores - Pottery Barn Kids and Pottey Barn Teen. 

Is Pottery Barn Legit?

There are a few things to consider when determining whether or not Pottery Barn is a legitimate company.

First, the company has been in business for over 70 years now. This is generally a good sign that the company is legitimate. Pottery Barn is a housewares and furniture store that was founded in 1949 by brothers Paul and Morris Secon.

Today, the company is a part of the kitchen and home furnishings conglomerate Williams-Sonoma. Williams-Sonoma is a publicly traded company with over $8 Billion in annual revenues.

Is Pottery Barn Accredited With The Better Business Bureau?

Pottery Barn is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau. However, the company has an A+ Rating with the BBB. However, the ratings for Pottery Barn with BBB are shockingly bad. Out of nearly 700 reviews, Pottery Barn has a 1 out of 5 rating with over 3400 customer complaints closed in the last three years. 

The biggest complaints about Pottery Barn?

Most of the issues seem to revolve arond customer service complaints along with complaints about long shipping times. The good thing is that the A+ rating with BBB is reflective of Pottery Barn following up with the customer and taking care of the issue.

I usually check TrustPilot as well, and Pottery Barn has a 1.2 star rating out of 5 at Trust Pilot out of over 1200 reviews. I examined the reviews and again there are a LOT of complaints about shipping times and customer service. Here is an example:

I’ve canceled over $7000 in product because they keep moving delivery dates. Ordered a table, bench, chairs, chandelier, curtains, etc for a new home and nothing has arrived. Every item keeps updating in the system as another month delay. They can’t find the items and customer service doesn’t care.

Overall, you can be confident that Pottery Barn is a legitimate company, however the customer complaints with the BBB are of concern. 

Does Pottery Barn Manufacture Its Own Furniture?

Pottery Barn does have its own manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and a lot of Pottery Barn's upholstered furniture is made in their Sutter Street Factory. See below.

However, nearly all of Pottery Barn's leather furniture is manufactured in China. I've scoured different listings for their sofas, specifically leather sofas and that's what I believe. They don't make it easy to figure out, which is why I'll assume for now that everything comes from China. 

I even tried to chat with customer service at Pottery Barn and this was the response:

'Williams Sonoma Inc is working on providing a specific country of origin for all items but at this time we do not have more information on this item. Please visit our Corporate Responsibility site for more information on our quality, safety and sustainability practices. https://sustainability.williams-sonomainc.com/'

It's not exactly a dealbreaker if your Pottery Barn sofa is made in China, but customers should be aware.

You can have some idea of where the furniture is manufactured by looking at the product listing, under the product details, and under the 'Quality' section. If it is produced in their North Carolina facility, it will say 'Crafted in America' as shown below. Pieces made in China by a manufactring partner will say 'Imported'.

What's The Quality Of Pottery Barn Furniture?

First, lets dig into the materials used for Pottery Barn's leather sofas. 

Starting with the frame, Pottery Barn uses a "corner-blocked, air dried hardwood frame with mortise-and-tenon joinery".

What the heck does this mean? It's just a reference to how the frame is constructed and if done right, this should be of good quality. It means that the manufacturer is using hardwoods (good) and using angled joints to connect the wood frame.

They use sinuous springs for their support system of the sofa, which is a good solution, albeit not as good as an 8-way hand tied suspension or drop in coils.

Overall, Pottery Barn's furniture construction is good, but not great.

What Sort Of Leather Does Pottery Barn Use?

Pottery Barn sofas use a top-grain leather, which is aniline dyed and will lighten and soften over time to develop a rich patina. Top-grain leather is good, but we have no idea where the leathers are coming from--but I'm guessing China. 

One of the designers over at Houzz had this to offer on Pottery Barn leathers:

The fabrics and leathers come from various sources. Some American and some out of country. Italy, China etc. Their leather is decent quality. The best? No. The worst? No. The Turner has one of the nicer leathers on it that they offer.

Pottery Barn Sofa Reviews

I did some digging online to see what word on the street is for Pottery Barn. The findings?

Pottery Barn customers seem to like their leather sofas, however, the reviews are not overwhelmingly positive. 

For example, the Turner leather sofa is Pottery Barn's most popular leather sofa. This one Houzz post had some great intel into actual customer opinions. Here are some of the customer reviews:

"I bought in 2017. I regret buying it. Here are some reason. The look is fine. The seat lost it’s comfort already. I bought it because it felt comfortable for my back, it was pretty firm and I liked it but not anymore. The leather is too delicate."

I own the PB Turner leather couch and I 100% regret buying it! I fell in love with this couch at the store. It was beautiful for about 6-9 mos, then it went downhill. The padding (under the leather) on both arms has become displaced and formed a larger bump along the outer edge of each arm. The pillows (seat and back) have completely lost their shape. The leather it so fragile-it scratches and loses color.

I have the pottery barn leather turner couch, and it has held up remarkably well inspire of getting roughhoused by 3 large dogs who practically live on it. It still looks new , 4 years later.

We purchased two Turner sectionals. One in leather and one upholstered one. We purchased them in 2016.2017. The leather one has kept its firmness but is really scratched up. The upholstered sofa went bad quick. Everything started sagging within a year.

We purchased two Turner sectionals. One in leather and one upholstered one. We purchased them in 2016.2017. The leather one has kept its firmness but is really scratched up. The upholstered sofa went bad quick. Everything started sagging within a year. 

The good? Customers love the design and the comfort. One reader told me it had a great firmness and was one of the more comfortable sofas he had come across.

The bad?  Major complaints about quality, issues with scratching, sagging, and gasp, even peeling!

How Long Does It Take Pottery Barn To Ship A Couch?

Shipping times will vary on all Pottery Barn leather sofas, depending on whether the piece is a 'Quick Ship' or a 'Made To Order' custom sofa. Quick Ship sofas can ship within 1-5 weeks of your order, whereas custom piecs can take 8 to 12 weeks or more for shipping.

You can find more information about Pottery Barn shipping times and costs here. 

Does Pottery Barn Offer Discounts?

Pottery Barn has a sale page where they do occassionally have some nice offers on leather furniture. 

For example, I snagged this beautiful Henley tufted chesterfield sofa for my office at nearly 20% off the original retail price. 

What Sort Of Warranty Does Pottery Barn Offer?

Pottery barn allows for a return within 7 days of purchase for Quick Ship upholstery items for a refund of the merchandise value. Made-to-Order furniture is not eligible for returns.

Pottery Barn does not offer any sort of warranty on leather furniture, a major dealbreaker in my opinion. 

Do you have any experience with Pottery Barn furniture, good or bad?

Please let us know in the comments section below.