Thanks to Ian Greenfield, I've been involved today in a Facebook "debate" about whether it's worthwhile paying an upholsterer (myself, for example) a large sum of money to make (from scratch) an interior... or whether people should just be using "pre-fab" firms like Interior Innovations, for example, and just having the new trims fitted once they've been delivered.

 

As I stated on FB, a lot of the pre-fab suppliers simply place the customer's order in somewhere like China or Malaysia where a team of eager little folk make the order, then ship it out. In my experience, the fitment isn't always great and the materials aren't great and in somewhere like a car cabin, the materials need to be good for the items to last more than a handful of years.

 

Bespoke upholsterers, on the other hand, do everything from scratch to ensure the very best fit possible. A lot of man hours, yes, but they can sit back at the end of it all and think "I made that", rather than thinking "I fitted that."

 

Big difference.

 

I'd like opinions please. I have mine and I'd like to hear yours :)

My opinion, as I have or am soon to be, going through both processes!

 

I ordered mine from leatherseats.com in the US which is where they're actually cut and fabricated. I certainly got what I asked for, the colours were right and it arrived pretty quickly. Fitment was 'ok', but they must be taken from original hard and firm bolsters that were in original shape. I was lucky and mine fit pretty well, not perfect, but there's no wrinkles or sagginess. There are areas that would need attention and that's where the trimmer would be useful!

 

Now I ordered half a hide to do my door cards and other panel work and that was sent off to Krytch Trimmers in Bristol along with my door cards etc. I've seen some truly SHOCKING interior fits with fabric cut and folded with wrinkles and gaps. I was lucky, they did a pretty good job, but not perfect.

 

If/as/when I have mine redone (which is likely to be over the winter), then I'll be taking it to you. From what I have seen, not only is the fitment much better, but also, there is far more colour and fabric choice. With many of these online seat places, you get a limited selection of what can be used. leatherseats.com have a very good configurator, but they lack (or at least when I ordered mine) much in the way of material choice.

 

Then there's material quality - again, down to choice. With the online seat cover places, you have what they've got which is likely to be an 'affordable' material, rather than a 'quality' material.

Edited July 28, 201510 yr by Funkysi

With the value for money and quality that you offer, you win hands down. I think the quality would show with the bok-choy fitment and I want my retrim to be made to fit my seats specifically

Just to add into this, I'm not sure how many people actually remember my arrival on here, but the first Z32 trim I did (for Gonzo) I made a point of putting pretty much step-by-step photos on here, so everyone could see exactly what I was doing with any given part.

 

The reason for this is as follows:

 

Years ago, when I had a Calibra and was a member on one of their UK forums, one of the members posted up some pictures of a retrim he'd had done. Very nice it looked too and lots of people wanted to know who by and how much. Bear in mind this was 7 or 8 years ago...

 

So he said it was done by a firm in York (who I'm not going to name, but they're very well known) and cost circa £2k.

 

Fast-forward a couple of years and we find little ol' me looking for some advice, so I contacted this Calibra club member to pick his brains, and it was then that he clued me in about his retrim.

 

Turns out he actually worked for this York-based company at the time and it would've cost him £2k to have done, but he fitted everything himself and thus only had to pay for the actual leather parts.

 

Which came from a factory in China. And cost him less than £200!

 

So this firm were quite happy to pay £200 for Chinese-made seat covers and then inflate the cost tenfold to the customers, all of whom were (presumably) blissfully unaware of how their cars were actually being retrimmed!

 

Once I learned this, I had a choice: I could either do absolutely everything myself... not make an enormous profit... but be able to have a bit of pride in myself at the end of a job... or I could establish links with a Chinese factory, rip my customers off and retire to Malibu before I was 40!

 

Surprisingly, I chose Option 1.

 

Boring story, I know. But there you have it: the genesis of Hide'n'Seat.

 

Am I going to be a millionaire? Not any day soon.

 

Are my hands knackered and do I get precious little sleep? Yep and yep!

 

Am I undeniably proud of the work I do? Damn right!

 

Would I start using pre-fab to save time and/or money...? No, I wouldn't.

 

[/rant]

I think the way forward for the best finish is always going to be the professionals.

Experience and equipment are always going to win out over thumbs and enthusiasm.

However, always a however!

The big joy for me with mine is always tinkering, it's not a show car and it's not my daily driver and I always like to try to do things myself.

To be fair there are occasions I have to hand a half arsed job over to a man who knows what he is doing :lol:

So I will be attempting bits of mine myself, although the previous owner had the seats re trimmed so I have dodged that bullet.

Having seen pictures of your work it is undeniably excellent and if I decide I want mine to be a show car then I will definitely be sending bits your way.

I think the moral is if you want the best then pay for the best.

I also believe that members on this forum are lucky to have access to such a talent should they choose to use it.

It's not correct in my opinion to make comparisons between bespoke upholsterers and pre fab kit they are totally different propositions.

Ultimately it is down to individual to make their own choice dependant on what they want out of it and of course how much they want to spend.

 

Just my thoughts for what it's worth

 

Oh yeh do you do anything like this

:clown:

For many, the choice is often governed by cost and not by what job would be the best quality.

My Fault PFFT !!!! :no: I just tagged you in to the picture set not my fault you picked a fight with some random plonker from New Zealand. It was rather funny though Si I love it when you bite.

He did get a bit defensive though.

My Fault PFFT !!!! :no: I just tagged you in to the picture set not my fault you picked a fight with some random plonker from New Zealand. It was rather funny though Si I love it when you bite.

He did get a bit defensive though.

 

I appreciated the tag as the work was beautiful! :thumbup1:

 

I didn't appreciate that muppet outright stating that he could do all that work in 10 hours, only to reveal later on that he could only fit a pre-fabbed interior in 10 hours...

 

...which I still dispute as removing the dash would take a while, as would all the other parts and seats. Then all the prep work on everything, then all the fitting and so on.

 

Guy was a weapons-grade fool, if you ask me....!!

Link please!!! Unless it was on that awful 300zx Nismo-UK facebook page.

It was on the "Custom / Exotic 300ZX" group, Si.

It was on the "Custom / Exotic 300ZX" group, Si.

 

Saw it! Firstly, that Fliff Factory retrim was stunning, secondly, that Asakura Marko dude is a complete idiot. He's comparing apples to oranges and can't seem to understand that.

Si, You're the best !

Si, You're the best !

 

Well, thank you :) But honestly, this thread wasn't started to massage my ego or anything like that - I'm genuinely interested in peoples' opinions about, I suppose, what they would pay for and whether or not they're happy to pay "extra" for a bespoke service...

like everything including in my game,we are tied to what people can afford and not what we,d like to do. When you put your own loaf on the table we need to be totally flexible in supplying to peoples or customers wants.

like everything including in my game,we are tied to what people can afford and not what we,d like to do. When you put your own loaf on the table we need to be totally flexible in supplying to peoples or customers wants.

 

the customer always wants it cheap as poss. and goes on how much i priced the job up for nothing to do with how well you will do the job you can tell them till your blue in the face how good a job you will do then some some comes along prices it cheap and in a second your price must be to high and trying to rip them off get this every fooking day its a pain in the arse people in my game go on money not how well your going to do the job pisses me off big that

the customer always wants it cheap as poss. and goes on how much i priced the job up for nothing to do with how well you will do the job you can tell them till your blue in the face how good a job you will do then some some comes along prices it cheap and in a second your price must be to high and trying to rip them off get this every fooking day its a pain in the arse people in my game go on money not how well your going to do the job pisses me off big that

 

+ ,,,.. [emoji15][emoji16]

You pays your money, you takes your choice.....

 

......Same goes for the "VW vs Skoda" question - whilst they are essentially the same cars underneath, when you actually get your arse into one of them, unless you're blinkered by the cost saving, it's 100% obvious that they are not!!

 

Hence I will echo Brian's post above - what does the customer want; what does he want to pay and, ultimately, what can he actually afford.

 

A custom-made option will always be best; and if I ever look at a re-trim, then I'll most likely be knocking on Mondo's door as opposed to buying a "pre-fab" interior from overseas.....:wink:

if I ever look at a re-trim, then I'll most likely be knocking on Mondo's door

 

Cripes, that's a long old drive, could you not send him a PM?

Cripes, that's a long old drive, could you not send him a PM?

 

LOL - metaphorically speaking of course Joel....:rofl:

Wow that facebook build was amazing!! Si, have you ever done a dash retrim? Out of interested how much would you charge for that kind of job shown by filif?

 

In terms of being trimmer and doing it from scratch that must be amazingly satisfying and would win hands down. For the less skilled of us I personally love the idea of getting a kit and trying to trip something myself, but it is that time vs money vs skill vs result.

 

For example I recently built a kitchen table form reclaimed wood as I wanted to dabble in a new skill, and didn't want to pay £200 for something I thought that with some time and effort I could probably do.. Now with all the costs of tools and failed attempts I probably spent a similar amount but boy did I enjoy it!! So for that proper finish I would pay a pro, but for something that is part hobby I think the DIY approach is always good fun, and these prefab kits kind of bridge that gap (with questionable quality perhaps).

Have you considered providing the interior seat cover and interior "kits", with prices based on materials used? I'm pretty sure yours would be vastly better quality wise, and the club could keep it all in house too.

just a thought...

Have you considered providing the interior seat cover and interior "kits", with prices based on materials used? I'm pretty sure yours would be vastly better quality wise, and the club could keep it all in house too.

just a thought...

 

The only real snag with that is that I don't charge anything for fitting new covers or trim. I undoubtedly should do, but I don't. Nor do I charge for removing or refitting anything to a car if it's left here for me to work on - everything's included in the price of the retrim.

 

I charge for the materials involved and the labour involved in making the new items, but if I broke that charge down into an hourly rate then I'm earning considerably less than the NMW!!

To Be honest because I am so far away from you I would still pay decent money for a kit that I could fit as it is hard to get the panels / car over that side of the country...