My mother has a cat that likes to jump up onto her leather sofa and leave little claw holes in the cushions as she does so. I purchased this as a Christmas gift, but I had to return it. I feel like it certainly would have solved the claw problem if we had been able to make it fit, but we couldn't make it work on her type of sofa. Her leather sofa has 3 back cushions that are semi-attached, and that is not a good style with this cover -- it makes the back of the couch just too "thick" or something. There was more than enough material there to cover it, but it looked terrible. No matter how we tucked and adjusted, the cover just looked kind of pulled at the arms area and strange at the top. Also, be aware that this is for a quite long sofa. My mother has a long sofa with three cushions on the seat and it fit pretty well in length. But I would not buy it if you have the kind of cushions along the back like she does, where at the top of the cushions they look as if they might be loose, but they're actually not. Also, make sure you can tuck something in well where the back meets the seat. On my mom's sofa, it just wasn't deep enough to tuck anything in very well. In fact, I recommend taking a quilt and throwing it on your sofa and tucking it in just to get an idea of what a cover will look and fit like. I think if I had done that, I would have realized that no cover was going to look good on her sofa. As for the material, it is velour. I knew that, of course, but when I actually saw it I didn't really like it. Just imagine your sofa in velour squares, and see if matches your decor style before ordering. It was, however, very soft and cozy feeling, especially now when it's cold outside. But I wouldn't want to sit on it in the summer. In conclusion, I think if you have a sofa that is the style shown in the picture and it is made of a fabric other than leather, it will work fine. But if you have cushions on the back, either attached or not, you will not be as happy with the look. Also, I don't know how well this cover would have stayed on a leather sofa. Definitely some sliding will occur, and it will probably have to be adjusted each time you get up or down. My mother didn't keep hers long enough to find out if the sliding was too much to be acceptable. I gave the product 4 stars because I think that with just the right kind of sofa, it would definitely protect. It seemed well made and plush. But since I'm not totally sure it would fit any sofa well, I deducted a star.