Microfiber sofas - any good?

EHL123

Sorry, another sofa one - I'm not obsessed, honest!

We went looking for our new sofas today, and were set on getting leather because we've got two dogs and two cats, so need something durable and easy to clean. However we were talking to the salesman in one shop and he said leather might not actually be the best choice for us, because it can be easily scratched by pet claws, and constantly cleaning off muddy paw prints could make the leather dry out and even cause it to split (I think we must have been lucky with our old leather suite, as I used to clean it with Flash and it lasted years!). He recommended that we consider a 'microfiber' sofa instead - I instantly thought fabric + mud = disaster, but he said microfiber is pretty stain proof, water resistant, easy to clean and less likely to get damaged by one of the dogs jumping up. He made it sound pretty good, and he doesn't even sell microfiber ones so he's obviously not just giving us the sales patter!

I did some internet sleuthing and came across a company called 'Artemis Home'. They have loads of these microfiber sofas, and they have them in stock to be delivered straight away, so I won't need to get the deck chairs out! They've got a sale on at the moment so I can get a three seater sofa with chaise unit, a matching two seater and a big storage footstool for under £600, which is great (budget is pretty tight). It says they supply sofas to Richard & Judy and 60 minute makeover, and I checked their ebay shop and they have 1,110 positive feedbacks (no negatives or neutrals at all) so I think they're safe to buy from. I can't post links yet as I don't have enough posts, but the ones I'm looking at are the Riete corner unit and the Caversham two seater, probably in Mocha (under the fabric section). They also do a nice suite called Milano which is around the same price, but I quite fancy the idea of the chaise unit (which DH won't be getting anywhere near!).

I've ordered some fabric samples which will be here in a few days, but as I've never come across this material before, I thought I'd ask if anyone has had any experience with it, good or bad? I'm not expecting it to be indestructable, as long as a bit of mud and sand will wipe off it OK and it won't rip like wet tissue under doggy paws, I'm happy!

Thanks in advance for any replies.

frogglet

We have always had leather sofas and have 4 cats, I wipe them down with a damp cloth and apply leather cream a couple of times a year or more if they are looking a bit dull.
The main problem I see is the cats scratching their claws but mine don't do it.
We don't have cloth ones as unless they have removable covers they would be hard to keep clean.

tanith

We bought leather thinking we would be safe but one of our moggies like to sleep on the back of the sofa and you wouldn't believe the mess she has made digging her claws in each time she jumps up , and it really notices... I am trying to find some dark shoe polish to cover up the holes and scratch marks...