We've only had the chairs (bought a set of 2) for a few days. But the leather seems nice so far and the recline mechanism seems sturdy. Leather is shinier than the vinyl but fairly hard to notice. We'll see how they age. The biggest surprise was the color - these are NOT navy blue. They are blue slate (med. gray + blue). I thought maybe the order was wrong, or the color on the first box I opened would be different than the next - nope. They are blueish, but mainly gray. Ironically they match our rug well, otherwise we'd have sent them back. Description should be changed on the Wayfair website, regardless of the color claim from the manufacturer. If buyers are looking for navy blue chairs, they shouldn't be directed to these chairs.