Customer’s Own Material (COM): Build Your Sofa in Materials You Already Love

Some of our favorite sofas have stories worth telling. Interestingly, they’re not made from our fabric library at all. Instead, it came from materials the customer already loved and brought to us themselves. 

We call this COM, customer’s own material, and it’s one of those questions we get asked about the most.

So here’s exactly how sending us your fabric works.

How to Send Us Your Material

Share Your Materials With Our Team

Reach out and tell us about the fabric or leather you want to use. We’ll let you know if it’s a good fit for upholstery, walk you through exactly how much to send, and answer any questions about yardage.

We Send Your Shipping Label

We’ll arrange the shipping label for you and confirm the shipping charge before you send your material.

Box It, Label It, Ship It

Pack up your materials, stick on the label, and set it out for UPS or USPS pickup. Your materials take approximately two weeks to reach our studio.

We Inspect, Prepare, and Build

Every material is carefully inspected, measured, and prepared according to its construction before cutting begins. Some materials can also receive optional backing or protective treatment to improve their suitability for upholstery. We’ll let you know if we recommend a treatment. 

Then our team hand-tailors and builds your bespoke sofa around it.

Your Dream Sofa Arrives at Home

The sofa you pictured shows up at your door, and it’s the moment you get to fall in love with it all over again. This is obviously our favorite part.

A Few Things to Know Before You Send

Can I Send in Any Fabric?

We can work with most upholstery-grade fabrics. But not every material is suitable for every sofa construction. Before you ship your full yardage, send us the fabric name (a product link if you have one), composition, width, photos, or specification sheet if available.

We’ll review things such as:

• Fabric weight and thickness
• Stretch
• Weave and seam strength
• Pile or nap direction
• Pattern repeat
• Backing
• Upholstery suitability
• The shape and tailoring requirements of your sofa

For unusual, delicate, vintage, or highly valuable materials, we may ask for a small cutting or one full pattern repeat for approval first.

What if I Want to Send My Own Leather?

We accept customer-supplied leather, which is sometimes referred to as COL (Customer’s Own Leather).

Leather requirements are calculated differently from fabric because hides are irregular in shape and contain natural variations. The usable yield depends on hide size, scars, markings, grain variation, and the size of the upholstery panels we need to cut.

Send us information about your leather before ordering it, and we’ll calculate the approximate square footage required for your sofa.

Can My Fabric Supplier Ship Directly to You?

If you’re ordering new material from a fabric house, mill, or retailer, we can make the purchase on your behalf. We’ll provide the shipping details and coordinate directly with your supplier. 

What Happens When My Material Arrives?

We’ll let you know as soon as your material reaches our studio. Before anything is cut, our upholstery team checks the quantity, width, pattern direction, and overall condition.

If we notice a shortage, shipping damage, obvious defect, or something that may affect the finished upholstery, we’ll contact you immediately before proceeding.

If the material we receive comes up short, we’ll pause before cutting and let you know exactly how much more we’ll need. 

Production begins only after we have received enough approved material for the project.

How Much Fabric Do You Need to Send?

How much fabric you need to send really depends on the type and size of your sofa. As a general baseline, you’ll want to send at least: 

• Length: 11 yards (10 meters)
• Width: 55 inches (140 centimeters)

That said, every sofa is different. Things like your configuration, the fabric’s width, pile direction, and whether you want the pattern matched can all change how much we’ll need. 

So before you send anything, we’ll calculate the exact amount for your specific sofa. If your fabric is narrower than standard, or has a bold pattern, just know we may ask for a bit more.

When possible, we recommend sending around 10% to 15% more than the calculated requirement. This provides a reserve for pattern placement, material flaws, future repairs, or replacement upholstery.

But if you’re working with a fabric that has a print, stripe, or repeating motif, there’s another thing to think about. 

Do You Want Your Pattern to Line Up?

If your fabric has a print or stripe, you may want it to align cleanly across cushions and seams rather than looking mismatched. 

This is completely up to you, but it’s something we need to know in advance, since matching patterns takes more fabric than a plain print. 

Just let us know your preference when you reach out, and we’ll tell you exactly how much extra to send.

Does Fabric Direction Matter?

Fabric direction may matter for specific materials. Velvet, corduroy, stripes, florals, and other directional fabrics can look very different depending on which way they’re applied.

If you have a direction in mind, just tell us before production starts. If you’re not sure, we’re happy to recommend the orientation that works best for your sofa.

What Happens to the Leftover Fabric?

Once your sofa is built, there could be a little fabric left over. Rather than let it go to waste, we like to turn it into a small surprise for you (wink, wink). 

We won’t spoil it here. But more on this in the case study below.

A Quick Note on Your Material

We inspect every material carefully for visible issues before upholstery begins. That said, because your fabric or leather was made or purchased outside of Adorn Croft, we can’t guarantee how it performs over time. Things like fading, pilling, stretching, seam slippage, or colorfastness come down to the textile itself, not our craftsmanship.

What we can guarantee is the construction of your furniture. That part is fully covered under our warranty policies.

How Much Does Shipping My Material Cost?

Cost is the one part of this process that’s hard to pin down with a single number, and that’s because it depends on a few different things:

• The size of your package
• The weight of your materials
• Where you are shipping from

Shipping costs vary substantially based on origin, package size, weight, and service level. 

For some international COM shipments, previous projects have cost around $300 or more. This is to be used as a reference, and we’ll provide the shipping cost for your specific project before anything is sent.

Case Study: A Dream Sofa to Austria

One of our most memorable projects started with eight fabrics — not one. 

Daniel from Austria came to us with a clear sense of style. With a true eclectic taste, he sent us eight different art deco cranes and jungle motifs. Each had its own material composition and unique textures.

He clearly wasn’t looking for something ordinary, boring, and mass-produced. Instead, He wanted to create a sofa with a story he could call his own. 

We inspected, reshaped, and hand upholstered every piece, matching all eight fabrics into one bespoke 6-seater modular Mah Jong sofa. We think the daybed was a beautiful touch to the set.

We loved these fabrics so much, we couldn’t help ourselves. 

Remember that little surprise we mentioned earlier?  

We happily used the remnant fabrics to create complimentary pillows to complement the sofa.

Ready to Share Your Material? 

We know sending us a fabric or leather you love can feel like a big step, so that’s why we’re proud to offer all our customers lifetime support.

Because we’re the ones who build your sofa, we’re also the ones who’ll be here for it years down the line — whenever you need us. 

So, now that you’ve seen what we can do, mind if you share your ideas?  

Reach out at info@adorncroft.com or book a free design call to tell us more.