Lille Luxury Mesh Back Executive Chair review

Is it possible to get an affordable office chair which offers higher-end features like the ability to make multiple adjustments to different elements, such as the armrests, headrest and lumbar support?

It would certainly seem so, as the Lille Luxury Mesh Back Executive Chair carries a relatively wallet-friendly price tag, yet sports the kind of features that are usually only found on chairs which are twice as expensive (or indeed far more pricier than that).

So this product looks good on paper, but the key questions are: how do these features actually work in practice, and what sort of build quality does the Lille boast? Let’s explore the truth behind the value proposition on offer here.

The Lille executive chair (you may also see it called the Teknik Cobham chair online, which is the name given to this product by the maker) is on sale at BiGDUG, the UK online retailer which provided the sample for our review. It costs £227 (including VAT) at the time of writing.

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Design and build quality

The good news is that it soon becomes clear that the Lille office chair is a well-built product. It’s very sturdy and feels impressively robust once put together. Incidentally, assembly is a straightforward process, and took just under 30 minutes – it’s mostly a matter of slotting everything together, with seven screws to secure using an Allen (hex) key.

While it’s a very solid chair, one thing to note is that it’s quite heavy. So much so that when moving the chair around – or when propelling yourself a short way when seated, using your feet – you’ll definitely feel that weight, and it requires some effort to move. That’s reassuring in some respects, though – in terms of the sturdy feel of the build, as mentioned – and the other plus point is that this isn’t a chair you’ll feel sliding about a bit as you sit at your desk and work (or play). It stays well anchored due to that hefty nature (it’s rated for a weight of up to 150kg, incidentally).

The appearance of the Lille executive chair is pleasing, too. It looks like a higher-end model, and is well-finished with a polished metal base. Metal is used elsewhere in the construction – such as the hinge between the seat pan and the backrest – which is where some of the weight of the product comes from, of course. But much of the rest of the chair is built from black plastic, although it all goes together sturdily enough, with a few exceptions.

At least on our review sample, the headrest felt a touch wobbly, and there was a little play in the armrests too; but nothing that amounted to an off-putting experience when actually sat in the chair.

As we’ve already mentioned, one of the major selling points of this chair is the amount of adjustments available to the user. Indeed, the Lille offers a full range of options that allow you to tailor the chair to your exact needs, and the kind of functionality only usually found in far more expensive office chairs.

The basics are here, such as being able to adjust the seat height (via a gas lift), and also how far it tilts back. There’s a tilt tension knob underneath the seat which allows you to adjust how easily (or far) the chair can be tilted backwards, and a locking lever if you want to lock the backrest into position wherever it is. (The seat pan also tilts in tandem with the backrest, although by a lesser amount).

The armrests are independently adjustable, and can be moved not only vertically to different heights, but also horizontally if you want them further away from the seat, with a wider spacing. The headrest can also be adjusted to a different height, or angle, again allowing the user to really tailor its position.

In fact, there’s more adjustability here than some top office chairs, like for example one of our favorites, the Humanscale Freedom, which only allows for the armrests to be adjusted vertically – not for them to be more widely spaced.

Finally, lumbar support is provided, and you can adjust the tension of this, making it firmer – so the support cushion pushes further out into your back – or slacker, and indeed moving the cushion up or down to suit your own requirements.

Adjusting all these elements is simple enough, although getting the backrest locked into the exact place you want can be something of a clunky process. But once it’s in place, it’s fine; and you won’t have to do that often, of course.

Comfort

The Lille chair is very comfortable on the whole. You get a nicely padded cushion on the seat pan, and well-padded armrests which are comfy enough. The range of possible adjustments helps to ensure comfort, and you can make sure elements such as the headrest are positioned just right for your particular body shape – although the aforementioned slight wobbliness of the headrest isn’t ideal (but it’s far from a dealbreaker).

The backrest strikes a good balance between firmness and comfort, and the range of possible adjustments for the lumbar support is another strength – as is the mesh back, which is breathable and will doubtless be a boon on hotter days (not that we had any during the autumnal review period, of course)!

All in all, there’s little to complain about here, and the overall sturdy feel of this rather heavy chair helps to reinforce the impression that you’re sitting in something which is robust and built to last, as well as comfy.

Final verdict

As a relatively affordable office chair which is well-built and offers an array of adjustments only normally found on more expensive models, the Lille executive chair punches well above its weight in terms of value proposition.

This is a comfortable seat which is easy to assemble, and we have only minor niggles about the build quality – the headrest does feel a bit wobbly, or at least it did with our review sample, which isn’t ideal, but in all honesty it’s fine and doesn’t move about much in practice. The armrests have perhaps a little bit too much play in them as well, but not to the same extent as the headrest.

However, small drawbacks aside, if you’re looking for a well-built and good quality office chair which won’t take too much of a chunk out of your wallet, the Lille executive chair fits the bill very smartly.

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