Choosing a fabric for your Lovesac Sactional comes down to a key decision between comfort and elegance: their popular chenille offers a cozy, durable texture, while their velvet provides a luxurious, plush feel. Chenille is a high-performance choice for casual, high-traffic homes, whereas velvet brings a sophisticated, upscale look perfect for more formal or style-focused spaces.
Here's everything you need to know to decide if Chenille or Velvet is the right fabric for your home and lifestyle.
Lovesac Chenille
Lovesac's Chenille fabrics are a go-to for shoppers prioritizing soft, touchable comfort and everyday durability. Known for its inviting texture and relaxed appearance, chenille is engineered to withstand the demands of a busy household, making it a practical and popular choice for family living rooms.
- What it is: A durable and cozy fabric with a distinctive fuzzy, plush pile that feels soft to the touch.
- Key features: Textured surface helps hide wear and stains, made from strong polyester blends, available in a wide range of colors.
- Price: Generally one of Lovesac's more affordable premium fabric options.
- Style: Casual, inviting, and comfortable. Perfect for cozy, transitional, and family-friendly home decor styles.
- Materials/Construction: Woven from a high-quality polyester blend that is designed for longevity and stain resistance, making it easy to clean and maintain.
- Pros: Extremely soft and comfortable texture. Highly durable and forgiving for homes with pets or children. Textured weave helps conceal dirt and wear. Typically more budget-friendly than other premium options.
- Cons: Lacks the sleek, formal appearance of velvet. The textured pile can sometimes catch on sharp objects like pet claws. Can absorb spills if not treated quickly, despite its stain resistance.
This fabric is ideal for anyone who wants a functional, comfortable, and low-maintenance sofa for a high-traffic living area without sacrificing a soft, inviting feel.
Shop this product: lovesac.com
Lovesac Velvet
Lovesac's Velvet fabrics offer a touch of luxury and sophistication, transforming a functional Sactional into an elegant statement piece. With its rich sheen and smooth, plush surface, velvet is for those who want to combine modern comfort with a chic, polished aesthetic.
- What it is: A luxurious fabric known for its dense, short pile and soft, smooth finish that has a subtle sheen.
- Key features: Smooth, plush texture feels incredibly soft. Engineered from durable polyester blends for better performance than traditional velvets. Available in deep, vibrant color options.
- Price: Often priced slightly higher than chenille, positioned as a more premium, upscale option.
- Style: Elegant, sophisticated, and glamorous. It complements mid-century modern, contemporary, and luxe interior design styles.
- Materials/Construction: Made from a high-performance polyester blend to ensure durability, stain resistance, and easier cleaning compared to delicate silk or cotton velvets.
- Pros: Offers a high-end, luxurious look that elevates a room. The dense pile is incredibly soft and comfortable. Performance polyester makes it more durable and cleanable than traditional velvets. Rich color saturation.
- Cons: Can show imprints or pressure marks ("bruising") from use, though they can often be brushed out. The pile can flatten over time in high-wear areas. May be slightly less forgiving with pet hair and dirt compared to textured chenille.
Velvet is the perfect choice for homeowners who want their furniture to have a dramatic, upscale appearance and who prioritize a sophisticated style in their living spaces.
Shop this product: lovesac.com
Lovesac Chenille vs. Velvet Comparison
Materials & Durability
Both Lovesac's Chenille and Velvet are crafted from high-quality polyester blends, making them far more durable and cleanable than their traditional counterparts. They are both family-friendly options designed for real life. However, they handle wear differently.
Chenille's fuzzy, textured surface naturally hides minor snags, dirt, and pet hair, making it extremely forgiving in busy households. Velvet's smooth, dense pile is strong, but it can show imprints, and its uniform surface may highlight pet hair more visibly. Over years of heavy use, velvet’s pile may flatten in popular seating spots, while chenille's texture is better at masking long-term wear patterns.
Style & Aesthetic
Style is the most significant difference between these two fabrics. Velvet immediately reads as luxurious and formal. Its subtle sheen catches light beautifully, making colors appear rich and deep. This makes it an excellent choice for a sophisticated living room, a formal seating area, or a stylish media room where you want to add a touch of glamour.
Chenille offers the opposite effect: it’s the definition of cozy and casual. Its soft, plush texture invites you to lounge and relax, creating a warm, laid-back atmosphere. It fits perfectly into family rooms and other casual living spaces where comfort is the top priority. While chenille is stylish, it prioritizes an approachable, lived-in feel over formal elegance.
Price & Value
Generally, Lovesac's fabrics are priced similarly, but velvets are often positioned at the higher end of the standard tier, just a bit more than most chenille options. While the price difference for an entire Sactional might be modest, it reflects the positioning of each fabric. Chenille delivers outstanding value through its combination of extreme durability, comfort, and a lower price point, making it a smart investment for everyday use. Velvet provides value by offering a high-end, luxurious look that is still practical and long-lasting, allowing you to get a premium aesthetic without the typical fragility of traditional velvet.
Care & Maintenance
Great news for modern households: both fabrics are designed to be machine-washable. Lovesac makes maintaining its Sactional covers straightforward. Chenille's texture is great at hiding everyday dust and lint. Velvet's smooth surface can be vacuumed with a soft brush attachment to lift the pile and remove debris. While both are treated for stain resistance, promptly addressing spills is key. For those with pets, chenille may be slightly more practical, as its texture can be more forgiving of claws and hair.
Which One Should You Choose?
Both fabrics are excellent, high-quality choices, but they are built for different homes and aesthetic goals.
Choose Chenille if:
- Your top priority is creating a cozy, casual, and inviting space.
- You have active kids, pets, or a high-traffic living room that needs maximum durability.
- You prefer a soft but textured feel over a smooth one.
- You love a relaxed, lived-in look that hides everyday wear effectively.
Choose Velvet if:
- You want your sofa to be an elegant, sophisticated centerpiece.
- You and your family love a smooth, ultra-plush, and luxurious feel.
- Your home decor style is modern, glam, or mid-century, and you want a fabric that complements it.
- You are okay with occasional brushing or vacuuming to maintain the fabric's smooth appearance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the main difference between Lovesac Chenille and Velvet?
The primary difference is aesthetic and feel. Chenille has a soft, fuzzy, textured surface that creates a cozy, casual look. Velvet has a smooth, dense, plush pile with a slight sheen that provides a more luxurious and formal appearance.
Which fabric is more durable for a family with kids and pets?
Both are very durable, but chenille is generally considered the more forgiving option. Its textured weave is excellent at hiding pet hair, dirt, and minor snags, making it a workhorse for active households.
Is Lovesac Velvet hard to clean?
No, unlike traditional velvet. Lovesac uses performance polyester blends, and the covers are machine-washable. This makes it much easier to care for than delicate silk or cotton velvets, offering luxury without the high maintenance.
Does Lovesac Chenille pill or shed over time?
Lovesac's high-quality chenille is designed to minimize pilling and shedding. While any textured fabric can show light wear over years of heavy use, widespread pilling or shedding is not a common issue with their materials.
Which fabric feels softer?
This is subjective. Both are extremely soft. Chenille offers a fuzzy, plush softness like a favorite sweater. Velvet provides a smooth, dense softness with a sleek hand-feel. Touching fabric swatches is the best way to determine your personal preference.
Is there a big price difference between Chenille and Velvet?
The price difference is usually minimal. Velvet options are often slightly more expensive, reflecting their premium positioning, but the final cost difference on a sectional is typically not significant.
Can I get fabric swatches before I buy?
Yes, Lovesac strongly encourages customers to order free fabric swatches online or pick them up in a showroom. This allows you to see the exact colors and feel the textures in your own home's lighting before making a decision.
How do the fabrics affect the overall look of a Sactional?
The fabric has a major impact. A Lovesac Sactional in chenille will look relaxed, inviting, and comfortable. The same Sactional in velvet will appear more structured, elegant, and sophisticated, instantly making it a more formal piece of furniture.
At Interior Insider, we're dedicated to curating the best in home decor, interior design, and home essentials to help you discover brands we think you'll love. Every brand we feature is independently selected by our editorial team based on quality, design, and craftsmanship. When you make a purchase through our links, Interior Insider may earn a commission - which helps support our small team and allows us to continue bringing you inspiration and expert advice for creating your perfect space.
Looking for more inspiration? Explore our curated design guides to find your next favorite piece.
