Steve Sechrest, COCOCOHome – Co-founder, Charlotte NC
Our Monroe sofa is the functional equivalent of Restoration Hardware’s Maxwell sofa. They share the same contemporary track arm style, the same essential proportions, and they both come in a deep version.
Shown in Pure “Molasses”
Shown in Contarni “Carbon”
Shown in Brighton “Shadow”
Shown in Mont Blanc “Wolf”
RH’s is made in China. I know, I know, the lady at your RH store told you that they make furniture in the United States, but she was lying. Since we are a furniture manufacturer, we make the furniture ourselves, rather than marking up outsourced products. Our Monroe sofa is made in America, in our own plant in a small town called Claremont, NC. If you’ve ever heard of the “furniture belt” of the Carolinas, we’re right there, just north of Charlotte, North Carolina. This is to our great advantage, as cushions, springs, and frames are made in the same area, as well as some fabrics we offer.
The Monroe’s frame is made from Plytanium American Oak plywood. I suspect theirs is made from Baltic Birch plywood, though they won’t name it on their website. It simply says “kiln-dried solid wood.” I know it is not oak. This is an issue because not all solid woods are not necessarily hardwood, and hardness varies according to the Janka scale. The higher hardness rating, the sturdier the wood.
RH says they use 8-way hand tied springs. The Monroe features a pocketed coil spring system from Leggett & Platt that exceeds the performance of real eight-way hand tied springs using almost ten times the number of true coil springs for a better, more comfortable sit and greater durability.
RH uses a cushion core which is soft, to be sure, but is not going to hold up as well as our 24 lb Ultracel foam core that is covered in a super soft oscillated foam topper, then wrapped in trillium. Why don’t they use a better cushion? Because it costs more.
One area where our Monroe is similar to Restoration Hardware and their Maxwell Leather Sofa is that we both buy great leathers from Moore & Giles, such as Brompton leathers and now Berkshire leather. In fact we started making furniture in Berkshire more than two years before RH started using it. So if you want a couch that is a Maxwell look-a-like you can choose Brompton Cocoa. But if you want to make it your own, you can choose from far more leather options in far more colors than RH allows. Hundreds more, and at a lower price.
The Monroe can be personalized by adding nail trim, hair-on hide accents or changing the number of cushions. The Restoration Hardware Maxwell cannot be personalized at all.
So if you like Restoration Hardware’s leather Maxwell Sofa, and don’t mind buying a Chinese-made sofa in which every important component is made with cheaper materials, then by all means, buy it from RH. If, on the other hand, you want an American-made Maxwell styled sofa, made with top-quality materials and personalized for you, then buy our Monroe.
Feel free to visit one of our showrooms in Charlotte, Atlanta, or Nashville to see the difference, or call us at  704 892 6680.