Genuine Sheepskin vs Chinese Sheepskin Plates

At Sheepskin Tailors, we go to great lengths to ethically source our sheepskins. Predominantly they come from Australia (mainly Victoria and New South Wales) and some from New Zealand.

We use a tannery in Australia and a tannery from New Zealand.

Our sheepskins are treated by the finest tanning process.

Real sheepskin has leather on the back regardless if it has been lined with a cotton lining. A premium length of wool is 25mm which is soft and dense for ultimate comfort.

Sheepskin is a natural insulator, warm in winter and cool in summer.

All sheepskin seat covers in auto stores are sheepskin with acrylic back and sides. The headrests are sheepskin fronts with acrylic backs. These sets of seat covers are multi fits (one size fits all).

You will be able to buy off the shelf seat covers made out of 100% sheepskin in auto stores.

The cheaper seat covers in auto stores are made out of plates with lots of joins in the sheepskin and can have low wool pile from 19mm to 22mm.

Not that there’s anything wrong with these products, for example for work vehicles or to tidy an older vehicle with worn, grubby seats.

There are a small handful of companies that make full sheepskin custom made seat covers in Australia. They range in price from $790 to $1300 for a pair of front seats. It takes 6 to 8 premium sheepskins to make a pair of front seats depending on the size of the pelts/sheepskins being lambskins or larger sheepskins.

In the last few years, regrettably, Australian tanneries are almost all closed down so it’s harder to source full sheepskin pelts in a variety of colours. Due to this some Aussie companies have resorted to using ‘’plates” to make full custom made car seat covers.

A sheepskin plate is a rectangle of sheepskin that measures roughly 60cm wide to 120cm long. These have many joins in them and are all made in China. These are made to this size to manufacture a sheepskin front seat with acrylic sides which is what is sold in auto stores.

So when you are purchasing premium top of the range full sheepskin car seat covers, ask the company what they use, full genuine sheepskin pelts or sheepskin plates.

Our custom made sheepskin seat covers are made from premium 25mm sheepskin pelts. Every product produced by Sheepskin Tailors is tailored to your requirements to fit your cars particular make and model. When you get a custom made order from Sheepskin Tailors, we guarantee a perfect custom fit with no bulges and no bagging. The cover remains firmly in place. Not only is this more comfortable for you but there is also less wear and tear on the sheepskin itself.

We use 25mm plastic side release clips and a 25mm wide strong elastic. There are 6 to 7 fasteners on each seat for a tight fit. Using side release clips, the covers are easy to put on and remove if necessary.

We recommend you vacuum your sheepskin seat covers regularly to keep a beautiful plush wool pile.

Sheepskin is exceptionally hard wearing, and if cared for properly will last for years.

At Sheepskin Tailors we stand by all of our products with a 12 month guarantee on manufacturing.

That’s how confident we are that you’ll be happy with your purchase.