My opinion on aftermarket upholstery materials

Entirely-leather upholstery is a bit of a waste of money unless you are looking to massively upgrade your car to a luxury car status. You'll see entirely vinyl seat upholstery on the aftermarket, however... I find (most) vinyl materials to be a pitiful material for coming in contact with skin. It's usually sticky to skin, it doesn't breathe at all (which will irritate your skin with acne), it gets hot in the sun, and it's freezing cold in winter. It's worth spending a little more and getting leather seating surfaces (typically called "leather trimmed") unless you're going to always wear pants, long sleeves, and exclusively take very short drives in your car. Vinyl will wear out slower than leather, but it is basically plastic and cheap. Note: there actually are high quality, expensive vinyl materials available, but you're not going to see those vinyls in use on seat covers that are hundreds of dollars cheaper than leather ones. If the vinyl seat cover is glossy in photos, it's going to be sticky.

If you want it to look OEM, pay attention to stitching at the seams

If you're looking for aftermarket seat covers that match the factory ones, I'll try to guide you with information about that... or at least point out a few key differences. You have to keep something in mind though: the way the cloth upholstery was stitched is not the same way that the leather upholstery was stitched. You will find that some of the aftermarket seat upholstery patterns are based on the cloth seat patterns, and therefore lack fancy stitching along the seams. In my opinion, it looks very cheap when leather does not have the proper stitching at the seams, and aftermarket covers that lack it will not look right.

A note about "black" leather

Another thing to remember is: no matter what you do... don't put black leather in your Camaro. You may think you want black, but I've seen it, and it looks terrible. There's only a few pieces of black plastic in the interior, and actual black leather looks ridiculous in these cars. Always go lighter, like with a graphite, ebony, charcoal, etc. or it will stick out like a sore thumb. Most aftermarket seat upholstery companies will provide you samples of the materials for a reasonably low cost.

There might be a few examples on this page that use actual BLACK leather. If there are... hopefully you'll notice how ugly that color looks with the dark gray plastics and dark gray carpets used over the years.

Hawks Motorsports 100% Hampton Vinyl Seat Upholstery

I don't know exactly when these became available, but I first heard of them around 2009. You'll find these to be among the cheapest options available in the late 2010s and 2020s at around $425 back in 2009. They still offer this same product, but for between $669 and $744 now in 2021.

I assume that Hawks doesn't make these covers themselves, but I don't actually know the specific details. I have not sat in these, and my opinions come exclusively from photos. I do not personally think they look good quality, and being entirely vinyl, they are a downgrade from what Camaros originally came with.

You will also note: they are based on the cloth seat pattern and stitched similarly along the seams.

Katzkin Leather Interiors Seat Upholstery

Katzkin has been around since at least the 1980s and there was a time period where they were very, very popular on the Camaro forums (mid-2000s) . Their patterns were created using CAD technology and steel dies were manufactured to assure consistent cutting. The leather was cut by these dies in a 100 ton press. Workers who did nothing all day but assemble and sew pieces of leather together would construct the covers.

Back in the 2000s, perhaps starting around 2004, Katzkin was actually an officially licensed resource for GM dealerships to upgrade cars with cloth seats on their lots to leather interiors. This, however, was after 2002, so it didn't affect 4th gens.

I can't be an authority on everything, so some of what I say about Katzkin's patterns is based on the pictures I have saved over the years and my memory. I could be wrong about a few details. I believe you had the option to have the covers mailed to you, for you to install. I know that they later had a network of installers, but I don't know if it was required or not.

To my knowledge, in the 2020s, they no longer make 4th gen seat upholstery, in fact, I think they stopped offering it around 2006 give or take a couple years. They may still offer it through resellers like Hawks Motorsports though.

Their '93-'96 seat cover design looks rather similar to the OEM pattern. However, it has a stitched line near where the seatbelt holder attaches and some/all have a pocket on the back side of the seat. The overall fit is fine, and I do know that the "leather" is actually real leather.

Their '97-'02 pattern looks very similar to the OEM pattern, just rather tight looking. It looks like the covers are more skintight than OEM.

Autoleathers.com (based out of California) used Katzkin products. I know this, because the 1 and only 1 interior I've seen looked identical to Katzkin's pattern... plus had "Katzkin Leather Interiors Inc." embroidered in the headrest. Can't get better evidence than that. That pretty much says it all.

Pacific Restyling Products Seat Upholstery

Honestly, I know very little about this company. I've only encountered 1 car with seat upholstery from them. To my knowledge, they primarily went through Katzkin to get covers, but I could be wrong, which is why I've made them their own category. The example below has the pocket on the back of the seat that Katzkin liked to add so... I think they were literally just selling Katzkin products or acting as a middleman. I could be wrong though...

LeatherSeats.com Seat Upholstery

Around 2008 or so, I was a big fan of seeing leatherseats.com seat covers, as from my point of view, they were the alternative to Katzkin, and I liked them better. I think they fit better, and they don't look like they are squeezing the foam like Katzkin products do. In fact, they look like they have a little more foam added to them. Their patterns looked similar to the OEM ones, but weren't necessarily exact. Their 93-'96 pattern had extra stitching the OEM seats didn't have. Their '97-'02 pattern looked very, very similar to the OEM pattern.

I personally think these look high quality and well-done. Leatherseats.com didn't offer vinyl (I don't think) back in the day, but currently does, and they no longer offer their '93-'96 patterns nor offer them for that year of seat at all. I believe you used to be able to get the '97-'02 style pattern for '93-'96 seats and the opposite as well. You now have the option to have 100% vinyl, leather trimmed (like OEM), or 100% leather.

Leatherseats.com specifically wanted customers to install the seat covers themselves, so they offered tools and instructions for doing so. They offered samples of materials, but no particular help in matching OEM colors, so you were on your own to decide what matched best.

Lethal Interiors Seat Upholstery

Lethalinteriors.com is a small business that specializes in '82-02 Camaro upholstery. I think their work is fantastic. They offer leather, vinyl, and cloth upholstery.

If you're looking for something truly handmade and custom, they are the company to go to. If you are super picky and want a very particular material, you need to contact them. They will use materials and colors that the big companies won't have and won't use. Their patterns look pretty faithful to the OEM ones, likely because they are based on deconstructing OEM upholstery and tracing the pattern (the way most true interior shops do it).

Being such a custom shop, I don't think you're likely to get 30th Anni or 35th Anni embroidery in exactly the same size as OEM, so maybe the seats won't fool somebody like me if you have logos embroidered on the headrests, but they can do some pretty great stuff. I would choose them if I wanted a custom color.

Ruga Seat Upholstery

Ruga is a company in Seoul, Korea (ruga.co.kr) and I have only seen one 4th gen redone by this company. It's owned by Recondo from Z28.com (or was owned by him in 2007). I'm including this here, because not only is it beautiful and incredible, but if you live in Korea, I imagine Ruga would be happy to redesign your interior too (for what I can only assume was a high cost).

Ruga designed the seats to look similar to those in a Jaguar XKR. The seats are Italian beige leather with natural suede inserts. They created a center armrest in the rear, modified the headrests quite a lot, and supposedly recovered the center console as well (though I can't really tell). The work they did on the door panels is insanely cool.

I normally wouldn't include something like this on the page, except for the fact that it's by a company that might possibly do the same job again.

Wet Okole Seat Upholstery

Wet Okole is a company in California that makes neoprene seat covers. They are waterproof car seat covers designed for those with an active lifestyle. These covers go on top of your existing leather or cloth seats. They aren't replacements.

From what I can see in photos... the fit is fantastic, and a good idea for those looking to protect their OEM seats.

Classic Soft Trim Seat Upholstery

Classic Soft Trim is the company you'd always see with an ad in car magazines back in the 2000s (and maybe even still). These days they have some sort of association with Roadwire Automotive Leather Interiors, but I've never heard of Roadwire before now.

CST was heavily involved with dealerships in the 2000s, but I don't know about earlier than that. They were so involved with dealerships that you could actually add the cost of your new leather-trimmed interior into your financing for your car. It's possible that you would find CST leather on a new Camaro in the dealership, if the dealership decided it would sell better customized. I've seen a few claims over the decades of original or second owners claiming that their car (that was equipped with cloth from the factory) was dealer-upgraded to leather from Classic Soft Trim, so it's possible that's true.

CST always claimed their quality was equal or better than OEM specifications. According to Todd Abraham, who was interviewed by Motor Trend in 2004: "It's all automotive-spec leather, has all the UV protection and is custom matched to the vinyl via a color spectrum analyzer. All of our kits have foam backing which gives it a good flow and a better fit, and hides imperfections better than the factory foam. The stitching is all done by walking-foot upholstery stitching machines, meaning straighter stitches and a heavier gauge thread." All this insures a beautiful appearance, great comfort and a long life for your late-model classic.

In 2004, CST had 50 installation centers across the country, 37 fixed locations and 13 mobile units, which service mostly dealerships. And CST could make your interior from 50 different colors of leather in stock. According to Motortrend, "Trust us, there's a lot of choices--the whole range of grays, browns and creams, to bright red, yellow, blue and silver. Got a wild paint job? You'll find a match in this wide color palette. For our medium gray interior [in our '94 Z28] (called opal in some Chevy literature) [Brandon's comment--never seen that before...], we found a great two-tone match with 083 Titanium for wear surfaces (perforated for better breathing) and 079 Dark Charcoal for edge trim. The cost to have your late-model Camaro seats and door panels custom made and installed in your car is around $1,200--a little more if you bring your own carpet to put in at the same time like we did. It's important to note that the exact price will be determined by the local labor rate, which can vary nationwide. At our Commerce location, it was $65/hr. As a side note, Classic Soft Trim also installs seat heaters, DVD players and top-slider sunroofs, so if you're in the mood for one of these upgrades, CST can do it all at the same time. If it weren't for our factory T-tops, a top-slider roof would be at the top of our list of things to add. For our carpet, we called Year One and ordered part No. 9399FOPL ($329). This piece replaces the entire passenger compartment except for the cargo well, which is made of formed trunk liner. The Year One carpet is form fit but you or your installer will need to cut holes for harness points. Some trimming is required and we highly suggest you use spray-on trim adhesive to get it lying perfectly flat. We even used the adhesive to reused some of our old padding to supplement the padding which came with the new Year One carpet. A matching set of embroidered floor mats (part No. FMZ930PLBLK, $103) finished things off."

Their pattern is unique and very easy to identify. The door panels have a hockey stick pattern to the pattern of the stitching, like no other aftermarket pattern I am aware of. The seats generally have gathered leather (pleated leather) in the center. The seat bolsters (and technically, the entire seats) are more padded than stock. The quality appears very high, but there's no tricking anyone... these are not OEM patterns. I believe this is their only pattern. I haven't seen a '97-'02 pattern, but perhaps they reconfigure this pattern based loosely on '93-'96 to fit the '97-'02 foam. I've typically only seen them in factory colors. Motor Trend's '94 Z28 is the only one I remember seeing with two-tone.

I've shared Motor Trend's captioned photos at the very bottom of this page if you want to read about the process CST goes through installing. It's really cool.

Classic Soft Trim without the gathered leather

The example below is what Classic Soft Trim's pattern looks like if you told them you don't want the gathered/pleated leather. It seems like a cool option. The rear seats are certainly a more luxurious looking design than the OEM '93-'96 pattern, and the extra stitching design on the side of the front seats looks notably cool as well. The example below is also two-tone, similar to the CST interior I posted near the bottom of the page.

Callaway Seat Upholstery

The Callaway SuperNatural Camaros and Callaway C8s were available with optional interior appointments. Keep in mind that Callaway (particularly during the 90s) was a supercar coachbuilder... not a tuner... so their efforts were to take the Camaro to a level higher than just being a customized Camaro.

You cannot get these from Callaway anymore, but here's some history for you all. The shift knob for 6 speed transmissions was available in anodized blue or black ($35). The wood accent pieces were real wood veneer laminated onto factory interior parts and available in Rosewood or Carpathian Elm Burl ($395). They were just a 3 piece set (I've seen larger, similar sets from other aftermarket suppliers) and only for cars with power locks and windows and either a manual or an automatic center console. I've never liked the wood trim pieces, but... they are part of history. Callaway tried to dress up the '93-'96 interior with them, and those were some of the only ways to do so in the 90s, so we can't fault them for it. Carbon Fiber would have been nicer, but it was not used back then for interior dress-up. Let's talk about the best part now. The leather seating surfaces were a major upgrade to the cars. The same artists who crafted the interiors for the Callaway Speedsters crafted these visually distinct leather upholstery upgrades ($2000).

According to old paperwork, Callaway wanted to restrict owners to Dove Grey (light gray leather) because they thought it harmonized well with the charcoal interior plastics. I assume this was specific to '94's lighter gray interior plastics (you can see an example '94 below, but it only has Dove Grey piping). The restriction definitely never panned out. Callaway's accent stripes were said in this old paperwork to be available in 3 suggested color combinations: Azure Blue/Indigo... Charcoal/Yellow... Red/Teal Green. Other color options were available at an additional cost supposedly (but I don't know if that was actually enforced). You will note that their pattern was unique and not the OEM pattern.

I'm only aware of this leather interior appearing inside a hand full of the C8s and SNAT Camaros made. Callaway allowed (or provided) more conservative leather upholstery options, but they are painfully difficult to recognize in photos since they utilized the OEM pattern.

Marietta Auto Trim

Marietta Auto Trim is the company that did many of the custom interiors in the GMMG Camaros. They were/are located at 808 Damar Road, Marietta, GA 30062, 770-590-8746. I don't know exactly which cars they worked on (or not), but I've provided a variety of interior photos from GMMG cars like Berger SS, ZL1, Tom Henry Edition, Hot Rod Edition, and Dick Harrell Edition.

I'll add better pictures in the future. I don't have most of my GMMG pictures on this harddrive.

MotorTrend's '94 Z28 makeover in 2004, thanks to Classic Soft Trim

In 2004, MotorTrend wrote a great article about CST and how they redid their '94 Z28's interior, including installing the replacement carpet they got from YearOne. I'm sharing the photos from that article as well as the captions below.

Camaro King LA/United Motors Inc.

Camaro King LA is a company that primarily resells Camaros and Firebirds, but also supplies aftermarket parts like seat upholstery. They are located at 13404 Sayre St, Sylmar, CA 91342, 818-364-7999.

I don't have any personal experience with this company, but I've looked at their website and ebay listings quite a bit over the last decade or so. Their seat covers are often for sale on ebay by rubik818.

They definitely fix up a lot of the cars they are selling. That's not a bad thing, because it's great that they exist. However, they do definitely have a history of selling Camaro SSes that aren't real authentic SSes... But that has nothing to do with their interiors.

Their interiors are pretty exciting. I don't know who (or what company) makes them for them to sell, but I'm overall impressed. They don't have any details on their website about materials or colors available or anything like that, but I have read/heard that they can supply you with what you need based on your budget. Their cheapest seat covers would be Hampton Vinyl, but they can also do 100% real leather as well or a mix of leather and vinyl. If nothing else, due to this guy specializing in 4th gens for so many years and pretty much replacing nearly every interior in every car that comes out of this dealership, the guy definitely knows what colors work and what colors don't. There are a few examples here that aren't the best combos in my opinion, but some of them are really great. The owner obviously has a very good eye for color.