Dining chairs: which fabric stands up to daily use

A dining chair is used every day, sometimes several times a day, and takes what a sofa doesn’t: constant rubbing, crumbs, splashes. So the cloth that looks right on a sample may not be the one that lasts. What the rub test measures, what cleaning to ask for, and a question that comes first: does the seat lift out, or is it fixed?

By Royal Stitch · Published 25 October 2026

Curved ivory bouclé sofa with leather trim in a living room open to the sea

Illustrative image

What a dining chair asks for

Two things at once: standing up to daily rubbing — sitting down, getting up, shifting about — and being easy to clean after every meal. A fabric can be excellent at one and weak at the other, so it is worth checking both.

Rubbing, measured

A fabric’s resistance to rubbing is measured with the Martindale test, set out in the international standard ISO 12947: a machine rubs the cloth in a looping motion until it breaks down, and the result is given as a number of cycles. Kvadrat, the Danish upholstery textile maker, describes it as the European standard and grades its fabrics by the use they can take, from domestic to heavy duty.

The standard has one limit worth knowing: the part that measures when the cloth breaks down doesn’t apply to coated fabrics such as vinyl, which are tested under another standard, ISO 5470.

Kvadrat also rates pilling on a scale, and recommends the higher grades for furniture that is used often.

The slip seat
It lifts out of the chair whole and is covered on its own.
The rub test
A machine rubs the cloth in loops until it breaks down.
The result
Given as a number of cycles, on the fabric’s sheet.

A dining chair in profile and the rub test seen from above. A diagram, not to scale.

Spills

Leather or a coated fabric wipes clean. Muirhead, the Scottish tannery, asks for its leather to be vacuumed and wiped with a cloth dampened in mild soap, without soaking it, and Morbern, the vinyl maker, for lukewarm water and a sponge on stains.

A cloth is cleaned as its label says. Kvadrat adds a reason not to put it off: dust and dirt wear the textile down and reduce its fire-retardant properties.

Slip seat or fixed

Before the fabric comes a question about the chair. The Boston Furniture Archive, at the Winterthur Museum, distinguishes two ways of upholstering a seat. A slip seat is a separately upholstered frame that fits into the chair: the cloth is fixed only to that frame. Over-the-rail upholstery takes the cloth and padding over the chair’s seat rails and fastens them underneath.

The difference shows when it is time to re-cover: a slip seat lifts out whole and is upholstered without touching the chair; a fixed seat is upholstered on the chair itself.

What to ask before choosing the fabric

With these answered, the fabric is chosen for the life the chair will lead:

Rubbing: What does its technical sheet give for the Martindale test?
Pilling: What grade does it have?
Cleaning: A wipe, water, dry cleaning? What does its maker ask for?
The seat: Slip seat or fixed?
The household: Children? Holiday lets? How many meals a day at that table?

The service

Chairs to re-cover?

Sofas, armchairs and headboards upholstered to order for Costa del Sol villas, commissioned by owners or by their interior design studio. The service page explains how the work is done.

Bespoke furniture upholstery for villas in Marbella Make an enquiry

Sources

The rub test comes from the ISO standard and a fabric maker; cleaning, from each material’s maker; seat types, from the Winterthur Museum’s furniture archive. Each source was found by searching the publisher’s own site.