Upholstery is usually treated as the color decision you make at the end. It’s also the durability decision — and on a sofa bed, which gets sat on by day and slept on by night, it’s the component that wears fastest.
The useful news is that Innovation Living publishes technical data for every fabric: abrasion resistance, pilling grade, colorfastness, and certification. Most upholstery is sold on a swatch and a name. Here you can compare on numbers, and the numbers vary more than the swatches suggest.
Martindale: what the number means
The Martindale rating is an abrasion test. A machine rubs the fabric in a figure-eight motion under load until the surface shows wear, and the rating is the number of rub cycles it survived. Higher is more resistant to wearing through.
As a rough frame, ratings in the low tens of thousands suit light domestic use, and figures approaching and above 40,000 are the range usually associated with heavy domestic and contract use. It’s a comparative measure, not a lifespan prediction — it tells you how two fabrics rank against each other, not how many years either will last in your living room.
Every Innovation Living fabric is also backed with an additional layer to extend its life, so the rating describes the face fabric within a construction designed to support it.
The range compared
| Fabric | Composition | Martindale | Pilling | Colorfastness to light |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Esina (chenille) | 45% recycled polyester / 55% polyester | 100,000 | 4–5 | 5 |
| Adario | 65% polyester / 35% recycled polyester | 92,000 | 4 | 4–5 |
| Avella | 100% polyester | 85,000 | 4–5 | 4–5 |
| Elegance | 100% polyester | 60,000 | 4 | 4–5 |
| Taura | 96% polyester / 4% acrylic | 45,000 | 4–5 | 5 |
| Melange | 100% polyester | 33,300 | 4–5 | 5 |
| Halifax | 100% polyester | 31,000 | 4 | 4–5 |
All are OEKO-TEX certified. Pilling and colorfastness are graded 1–5, where 5 is best.
The spread is the story. Esina survives more than three times the abrasion of Halifax. Both are offered on the same collections, at the same tier, and nothing in a photograph tells you which is which. If you have a household that puts real wear on furniture, that single column should shape your choice more than color does.
Halifax is worth calling out because it’s the standard fabric on several Neah and Vilander configurations, and it has the lowest abrasion rating in the range. That doesn’t make it a bad fabric — it’s OEKO-TEX certified with solid colorfastness, and for a guest-room piece it’s entirely appropriate. It makes it the wrong default for a sofa bed that gets slept on nightly with a dog on it.
Match the fabric to the room, not the mood
Heavy daily use, kids, pets. Esina and Adario lead on abrasion. Esina is a chenille — a velvety, soft-surfaced weave — and combines the highest Martindale in the range with strong pilling resistance and top-grade colorfastness. Adario is close behind on abrasion and is partly recycled polyester.
Sun exposure. Colorfastness to light is the column that matters if the piece sits near a south-facing window. Esina, Taura, and Melange all rate 5, the top grade. A fabric with a lower rating in strong direct sun will shift tone over a few years, usually unevenly where the light falls.
Texture over toughness. Taura has a distinctive textured weave and top-grade colorfastness, with a mid-range abrasion figure. Reasonable for a piece that isn’t taking daily punishment.
Spills. Elegance is water-repellent, which helps with everyday accidents on a smooth, tightly woven surface. Worth considering if the sofa bed lives where people eat.
Colors like Boucle, Kenya, Mixed Dance, and Coduroy are also available across the range — check the individual collection page for current options.
The washability question, answered honestly
Every fabric in the range is listed as machine washable at 86°F. That comes with a condition attached that most buyers miss: if the cover can be removed.
Across the Innovation Living range, detachable covers are available for Newilla and the Newilla Lounger only. Replacement covers can’t be purchased for the other collections.
So the practical position is:
- On Newilla, washability is a real, usable feature. Covers come off, go in the machine, and can be replaced later to refresh the piece.
- On everything else, the fabric is technically washable but the cover isn’t designed to come off, so cleaning means spot-treating in place.
If washable covers are a requirement — young kids, pets, a rental you re-let — that fact narrows the field to one collection, and it should probably outrank both color and comfort system in your decision.
If you’re set on another collection, buy durability instead: a high Martindale figure and a water-repellent finish are the alternative route to a piece that survives real life.
OEKO-TEX and what it covers
Every fabric listed above is OEKO-TEX certified, which means the textile has been tested for harmful substances against a defined standard. It’s a chemical safety certification — it isn’t a durability, sustainability, or performance claim, and it doesn’t tell you anything about how the fabric will wear.
It’s meaningful if you’re conscious about what your furniture is treated with, particularly for a surface you sleep on. It just isn’t a substitute for reading the Martindale column.
Several fabrics also use recycled polyester content — Esina is 45% recycled, Adario 35% — as part of the manufacturer’s materials program.
Custom fabrics and lead times
Beyond the stocked options, every Innovation Living sofa bed can be ordered in a much wider range of custom fabrics. That’s how you get an exact color match to an existing room rather than working around a stocked palette.
The trade-off is time: custom orders take 8–12 weeks to process. If you need the piece sooner, work from the stocked fabrics on each collection page. If you’re furnishing to a specific scheme and can wait, the custom range is considerably larger.
One caution worth knowing in advance: if you later add arms to a Cubed or Supremax — the two models where that’s possible — fabric from a separate order may not match the original exactly. Dye lots vary.
Choosing in the right order
- Decide if you need removable covers. If yes, you’re looking at Newilla, and the rest of this list gets simpler.
- Check the Martindale column against your household. Daily use with kids or pets points to Esina or Adario.
- Check colorfastness if there’s strong sun. Grade 5 fabrics hold color best.
- Add water repellency if food is involved.
- Then choose the color.
Screen colors are unreliable — every fabric reads differently in person than on a monitor, and no display guarantees an accurate match. Order swatches or see the fabric in person before committing, particularly for custom orders with a 12-week lead time.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Martindale rating for a sofa bed? Higher ratings resist abrasion better. In the Innovation Living range the figures run from 31,000 to 100,000. For daily use, the upper end of that range is the safer choice; for occasional guest use, the lower figures are perfectly reasonable.
Which Innovation Living fabric is most durable? Esina has the highest abrasion rating at 100,000 Martindale, with pilling resistance of 4–5 and top-grade colorfastness. Adario follows at 92,000.
Are Innovation Living sofa bed covers machine washable? The fabrics are rated machine washable at 86°F, but only if the cover is removable — and detachable covers are available for Newilla and the Newilla Lounger only. On other collections, clean in place.
Does OEKO-TEX mean the fabric is more durable? No. OEKO-TEX certifies that the textile has been tested for harmful substances. Durability is what the Martindale and pilling figures describe.
How long do custom fabric orders take? 8–12 weeks. Stocked fabrics on each collection page ship considerably faster.
Will the fabric look like it does on screen? Not exactly. Screens render color and texture differently, and no display can guarantee a match. Request swatches before ordering, especially for custom fabrics.
Fabric is the one decision on a sofa bed you can make purely on preference — as long as you’ve checked the durability column first. Browse fabrics by collection on all collections, see our buying guide for the full decision order, or get in touch about swatches and custom options.