This upholstery is foam not velvet. It is soft, but it is clearly not velvet. The color, however, is spectacular. The chairs are firm and sturdy adjacent. They slide on my hardwood floors. Assembly was frustrating. The instructions had no words and were generally vague. Still, the difficulty was getting the screws in as the alignment was off. I think I gave up on getting one screw in completely. No one is allowed to sit in that chair until I can figure it out.