Natural rattan is definitely a brilliant choice for your rattan garden furniture. It’s durable, comfortable, malleable and it looks great. There’s no wonder that it’s such a popular material for making fantastic furniture, for both indoors and out.
And yet you may have noticed in recent years that there has been more and more synthetic rattan furniture being sold in the UK. People interested in buying themselves some all-weather outdoor furniture (as well as comfortable, durable indoor furniture) are frequently deciding between natural and synthetic rattan furniture. This leads plenty of first-time buyers to wonder: why is there a need for synthetic rattan? There aren’t any obvious weaknesses to natural rattan… are there?
Well, the simple answer is: no, not really. But there are some advantages that synthetic rattan furniture has over natural rattan. Firstly, and foremost on many people’s minds, is the cost. With the growing popularity of rattan garden furniture, many manufacturers and suppliers are interested in providing great quality rattan furniture at a fraction of the price. Therefore, many use synthetic materials such as plastics to recreate the look and feel of natural rattan, which ends up being much cheaper to produce, and therefore much cheaper to buy.
A synthetic rattan chair.
Another major advantage of synthetic rattan furniture, also known as poly rattan furniture, is the fact that it is not vulnerable to mould, whereas natural rattan can gather mould and mildew in the right (or wrong) conditions. It is also extremely easy to clean, requiring just some warm water and washing up liquid.
While natural rattan is durable, it can (as previously mentioned) get a bit worn down by the elements, which makes it a bit better suited to being used in, say, a rattan conservatory set. However, synthetic rattan furniture can withstand even the harshest winter or most blistering summer, making plastic rattan outdoor furniture a great choice.
Some people worry that because of the price, synthetic rattan furniture is not as high quality as natural rattan furniture, but this simply isn’t true. As we mentioned, the price is lower because the materials used are cheaper; usually, the frame is made from aluminium and then plastic and resin are used to create that classic wicker furniture look (remember, wicker is the weave, not the material). Just like real rattan, the plastic used in the synthetic variant is pliable and easy to manipulate, making it both strong and durable. There are also a number of different possible synthetic rattan colours, thanks to the ease of colouring or painting the plastic.
An example of an aluminium frame in our synthetic rattan furniture
Whether it’s on the patio, in the conservatory, or even in the bathroom, synthetic rattan furniture will withstand just about anything you (or the weather) can throw at it. We often hold rattan furniture sales, so why not check out our great collection of synthetic rattan furniture?