"Married Cover" in the traditional sense in the leather furniture industry means the hide is sourced AND sewn overseas, typically in China, Vietnam, India, Pakistan or Indonesia. They are cut and sewn as ready-to-upholster 'kits' and shipped over here in bulk to the furniture maker. Most all the time, they are finished hides rather than aniline dyes as they are seeking to make a target price point. The issue with Married Covers as defined above is quality control. Its a real crap shoot as to what you might get. I see some married cover that comes in that looks great - you cannot tell the difference in it from a 100 % USA product. I see others come in from the same maker, on the same frame and I cannot believe someone didn't stop it as a quality control fault. If you're buying off the floor, you can inspect the piece and all flaws are right there in the open where you can see them. When ordering, however, you get what they send. Some of the things I look for in Married Cover: Tailoring: Because these are all pattern-cut and meant to produce quickly, upholstery jobs on M/C tend to be lumpier as tolerances are greater than the USA Cut-To-Fit. This is not a durability issue, strictly cosmetic. Sections of the sofa may appear 'wavy' rather than straight and true. Hides: Here you can find some rather odd things happening. I had a sofa that came in with the brand mark smack in the middle of the center seat cushion. It was clearly visible! As luck would have it, a customer came in and thought that was 'quaint' so they purchased it, but that was one in a million to have someone that actually wanted that. Barbed wires marks, insect bites, urine stains all are cut away in off-the-handle USA made products, but seen in Married Cover hides. You can see these however, so again if buying a floor model just look around the piece for flaws that would bother you. Lastly, neck and belly wrinkles are my personal pet peeve on M/C hides. In the USA, these are trimmed away, but in China they are not. Where seams come together you may see panels where these wrinkles hides are used near the seam lines, and its rather unattractive. Panels: The more stitching in a panel (or subset of panels) the less desirability of the piece. I've seen some back cushions on sofas where each cushion has five panels sewn to it! The best hides and the best makers use a single panel per section. The industry has difficulty controlling the quality on married cover, because it comes from foreign lands and there are language barriers that can't be readily overcome. For the most part, flaws are considered to be part of the price point. One of the unknowns with these Far Eastern leathers is the possibility of carcinogens on the hides as well. There are some very nasty chemicals used in the tanning processes. Not that many years ago there was a product the industry called "China Cow" that everyone used. It was an inexpensive leather, always done married cover - and it was actually stamped that on the hides. There was a huge volume being done in China Cow and then it was discovered that active carcinogens were on virtually all the hides. It was immediately and quietly dropped by all USA vendors. There are international standard for tanning processes and China, India, and Pakistan do not adhere to these standards. Sitting on hides that use banned dyes means if you are sweating you can absorb these carcinogens into your blood stream. I think the lead-in-the-toy-paint issue that came up this summer demonstrates that there are unresolved questions on consumer products we use that are made cheaply and in the Pacific Rim. Hancock and Moore felt they could no longer tolerate the quality control and other issues and discontinued offshore Married Cover product in Spring of 2006. Now they do everything in North Carolina 100 %, but they are the only company I am aware of that dropped the programs for their flagship label. It should be noted that they do offer it as a subsidiary product under another brand label, however. So that's my take on it. I'm far from an expert on all of this, but its what I have learned in the leather furniture business. Good Luck in your search, Duane Collie

Thanks for the help! Our budget has not really been decided yet, as I have paid over a thousand for two of my couches, and they have not held up at all. I would probably save a while longer to be able to buy a really quality piece--just because if you buy something, and a year from now, have to replace it, you are better off (and better for the environment too) spending more at the beginning, and getting longer wear.

Thanks to everyone who commented! I am going to look into your suggestions! As Sabrina Alfin said, we don't own a home right now, so this is part of the reason why we don't want to spend so much on a sofa. I found some interesting ones on CB, RB, and PB but I got nervous after reading some reviews claiming that sofas from these brands became awful after only a year of moderate use (I read a couple of these on houzz). And there's also the feather situation. Anyways, thanks again!

i would try out Maiden Home - its very high quality but you won't be able to sit on the sofa before purchasing as they are based in new york