The material of the cushion is very odd. It's soft, but not at all similar to leather or even fake leather. It was somewhere between leather and suede, but was obviously neither. The quality of the structure was good and they arrived in one piece. We chose the cognac color and it was very orange. In dim lighting it wasn't so bad, but our bright kitchen lights rally highlighted the orange. The backs of the stools were pretty loungy, which was comfortable when slouching, but not helpful when leaning toward the counter to eat. Overall it's a nice stool, but we couldn't live with it. We returned it at a cost of $75 per pair of stools. I consider that a high price, but there was no way I could live with them. I think a more neutral color would have been better.