100% MADE IN THE USA - backed by US customer service and support. Uh-huh. Read on.... Quite a few years ago, we bought a "polywood" adjustable-back Adirondack chair from LL Bean. It was, and is, excellent. Doesn't rot, and it's easy to clean. We decided to buy a couple more chairs, with footrests, but it turned out that LL Bean no longer makes the adjustable-back version of the chair (they now sell only a fixed-back version). So, I came to Amazon to find alternatives. We ended up buying two of the Highwood adjustable back Adirondack chairs, with matching footrests, and a side table. About $700 total. All of them are the weathered acorn color. Long story short, I have just given them away, free, on Craigslist. Why? Because the dye CONSTANTLY leaches out of the polywood, and because of that we cannot sit on the chairs, for fear of staining our clothes. I contacted Highwood about this. "Jessica" an "Account Specialist", replied quickly. She told me that they did not use "dye", they use "color", and that the material was "colored throughout". She asked me for additional information (receipts, and photos if possible). So, my wife washed the side table thoroughly with soap and water, using a bristle brush. At the same time, I washed a nearby metal patio table. We let everything dry overnight. Next day, I swiped both of the tables with a damp piece of kitchen roll. The metal table came up clean, showing that not much dust had gathered overnight in that outdoor location. However, swiping a damp piece of kitchen roll over the Highwood table came up with a lot of brown discoloration on the kitchen roll. That same day my wife washed one of the chairs with soap & water, rinsed it thoroughly with a jet of water from a garden hose - and then swiped it, gently, with a piece of kitchen roll. See photo. Brown dye again. This isn't dust or dirt - it's brown dye (or color - have I said that IT DOESN"T MATTER WHAT YOU CALL IT???). I emailed the photographs to Jessica (along with the receipts; the items are WAAAYYY inside their purported 12 year warranty period). I also told her, in my email, that it didn't matter what name Highwood gave it - dye or color - what matters is that, whatever name you give it, it was leaching out of the material. Jessica's next reply said that "management" thought that the discoloration was "particulates stuck in the material". Didn't seem likely to me, because if stuff was so embedded that it won't come out with a bristle brush, why did it come off so easily with a gentle swipe with a damp cloth? They also included a link to their care & maintenance instructions, and asked me to follow those instructions, which included power-washing the furniture. Never had to do that with the LL Bean polywood chair, and what happens if the purchaser doesn't own a power washer? But luckily, I have one, so since those are Highwood's "care and maintenance" instructions, I decided I'd do that. So I washed the chairs & footrests with soap & water using a sponge, then washed them AGAIN with soap & water using a power washer, then rinsed with clean water (using the power washer) for about 5 minutes per item. Let them all dry, and went out there with a damp piece of kitchen roll - and after gently swiping the slats of one chair, the kitchen roll had obvious brown stains. I sent this information - with photos - to Jessica. I even included a photo of the power washer "gun" on one of the chairs, to prove that I actually had access to a power washer. A couple of days later she replied, telling me that they don't use dye, they use color (not sure why she told me this again - and again, IT DOESN"T MATTER WHAT YOU CALL IT, the point is that brown stuff (dye or color) is leaching out of the material!). She told me that their material is "colored throughout" (yup, same as she had said before). And she told me that their "engineering team" says it is debris in the grooves (yeah, right; magical debris that resists several iterations of sponge cleaning, and also cleaning using a power washer, but comes off with a very gentle swipe with kitchen roll); and she said that I needed to repeat the power washing using their care & maintenance instructions (she even included the same link she had sent me a few days previously). I'm not going on an endless loop of power wash - send photos of dye/color on kitchen roll - get told that they don't use dye, they use color, and the brown stuff is debris in the material, and I should power-wash again. On and on, rinse & repeat (so to speak) - no thanks. They're going free on Craigslist, with a warning that the dye leaches out. 12 year warranty? Not worth the paper it's printed on. Made in the USA, customer service in the USA - not worth one red cent. There are many 1-star Amazon reviews of these chairs. Some say that they are cheap & flimsy, and others say they stain easily, and that the color (dye??) fades. Reviewer Clayton Hersom: "within 1 month 1 of the 5 chairs is discoloring"...Reviewer Kery Kafka: "after being outside for only three weeks, the finish is starting to fade...". I have to wonder if they really faded, or if the color leached out (so they looked faded). I'll close by quoting another Amazon review about a Highwood Adirondack chair from "Dr. Mark H. Wright", who wrote: "within a year seating slats began to crack, arms developed raised and discolored surfaces...Made many phone calls and numerous emails with numerous promises of new parts and once a new chair...BUY FROM A MORE HONORABLE company". Sadly, I have to agree with him. DO NOT BUY HIGHWOOD FURNITURE.
