Side by Side Comparison of: Sustainable Simplicity vs Benson Mills

These are great. I bought them because they looked like they would fit my hardwood table and they do. The multi colored shades work well with the wood grain on the table. The back side has a thin material on it so there is no scratching. I really like them.

These bamboo placemats are gorgeous, they don't disappoint! Nice sturdy quality and they look exactly as shown. The black fabrics trim adds a nice touch that offsets our black kitchen appliances, and the light bamboo goes well with any dinnerware set. So glad I took the chance!

I love these placemats! I have had them for a few months now and have had no problems. They are still in great condition, even though they have had numerous foods/drinks spilled on them. My cats also like to use them as a bed when I'm not looking. Great product - I would definitely recommend.

These place mats are really nice and we get a lot of complements on them. They are easy to clean and take care of. They are well made and have held up to everyday use.

The mats I received were a different color than pictured... But I love them. Very fast shipment. Thank you! :)

These are even prettier than they are pictured. And I like that they are flat slats. EvErything sits level on them and food doesn't fall thru like some bamboo mats. This was a test purchase and I am now going to place an order for 2 more sets so I have them for when the family is all here.

Product arrived as advertised. Great packaging. Will use again when need arises. Recommended to everyone.

Really nice looking. I really like them.

These are really surprisingly lovely placemats - the photos don't do them justice. The woven look provides an extra sparkle and look great when the light hits them. And though they are bamboo, they have a nice weight to them, and don't have a plasticky look or feel to them.Last summer, I bought a light table cloth that is a lighter gray and I pulled it out to see how these will look when we host parties - I can't wait to use them - and in the mean time, they look very nice on our smaller glass-topped kitchen table. Crumbs easily come off and though I haven't needed to rinse them yet, it seems like a wet washcloth or papertowel will be able to handle the majority of the mess on them.

Even after several weeks of using these, they are still holding up well to daily use by my family. The placements seem to be well made and relatively sturdy. I do recommend only using a slightly damp cloth to wipe them off with because I don't believe they will hold up to a wet cloth. If you're looking for an affordable bamboo placemat, these definitely work.

The place mats arrived in great condition. The trim around the edges is sewn well, the bamboo slats are straight and uniform in size. My decor is wicker, rattan and bamboo. I'm using the place mats on top of nightstands in the bedroom and also on a wicker tiered shelf, so that I can display candles and knick-knacks. The price is fantastic.UPDATE: A little water spilled on one of the place mats and the color faded. After it dried completely, I sprayed a little furniture polish (Lemon Pledge) on the stain and it was restored to its original, chocolate brown color - the water stain disappeared.

For only $8.00 I think this is a geat bargain! These are so cute too! I see a couple of minor flaws but I'm not worried, after all it's wood, lol. I have a vinyl table cloth so if the color fades and gets on there I don't really care. I almost paid $12 at Meijer for some ugly plastic ones ($2.99 per mat) so I'm more than happy to get these for so cheap! Hopefully they'll hold up awhile but if not no big loss here lol.Update two days later they still look great. I cooked a big dinner that included gravy which the kids spilled onto the placemats. Guess what, it cleaned right up! Still looks nice as before and no color fade or bleed into my table cloth.

Looks nice, works great, cleans easily. Buy it, try it!

So far I've noticed that if you try and clean it the color somewhat bleeds. I wasn't expecting that. I also saw the grooves but really didn't think that good would get caught in it but it beats trying to uncurl those godforsaken cloth placemats. At these these do not stain either. Overall, I prefer these mats to cloth mats because of the durability.

So far they're proving pretty decent. They look nice but the edges could be done a little neater as there are some loose threads and sewn edges showing out off to the side from the bottom of the mat.

These placemats are decent. They look absolutely beautiful and the pictures on Amazon are quite close to what you get. My only complaint is that they're cheaply made of course, and you'll get threading that pops out from time to time and it looks tacky. Other than that, I love them--they look great and have held up well over months of use.

These placemats look really nice and the quality overall is fine (Stuart clearly got a "lemon" somehow) but I do wonder about how dry the bamboo is. It seems like they will soak up anything spilled on them as it feels as if there's no "finish" on them at all. I want to test it by wiping one of them with a damp cloth but I'm kind of afraid of what will result, as another reviewer mentioned that the slats have warped on her. Being as though they're pretty inexpensive I may just bit the bullet and try putting some mineral oil or something on them to "seal" them, otherwise I don't think the look is going to last very long.

The initial set I received was defective so my review was pretty harsh as I was very disappointed however... The seller contacted me and asked to send a new set which I received and which was much much better than the first set. If the second set is the typical quality then I have no issue recommending these.

If you're wanting a placemat that you can clean easily I wouldn't suggest this product. I have a six year old that hasn't quite mastered eating over his plate (lol) so I just have him move the placemat to the side until he's done eating. The only thing I didn't like about the placemats is that it has red lines (I'm assuming the thread holding everything together). I was looking for an all black placemat set. Although I was bummed about that, it doesn't look horrible and I can live with it.

I like these mats, but they could have been made a bit better. There are variations in the bamboo that make it look like their not straight - but overall their very nice

Nice looking place mats! The bamboo slats make them a little hard to clean, and they don't lay perfectly flat when you don't have dishes on them. Not sure how long the color will last, as I'm a little worried glasses will cause the bamboo to lighten over time, so I always use coasters.

good quality and they look quite elegant and more expensive than they actually cost. Not so easy to clean, but the quality offsets that small minus. If something spills on them, you may need to run the mats under water as opposed to using a sponge or paper towel. Would recommend this product. A good buy!

These place mats are easy to clean, I have two kids and when food gets spilled on them, I take them to the sink and submerge them and wash them. They dry in the strainer like new. I love them. I bought the natural bamboo color so I didn't have to worry about dye bleeding or anything like that. For 4 bamboo placemats these are awesome!

I'm usually so thorough in buying products online, but since these were so cheap and I've been wanting bamboo placemats, I didn't read much. Sigh, so, yes, as another reviewer pointed out, these are much lighter: more like cream, the border a very light beige. The border is probably the color that is depicted for the actual bamboo, and the bamboo is lighter than that.Shrug, they will still be fine.

Although I like the way these look, one of them has an issue with the border not being attached on one side and an area with some sticky residue. Do I have to send back all 4 to get a replacement for this single one with an issue?

I like these Place mats. However these brown ones need to be washed prior to use to avoid the stain on the bamboo from getting on napkins and skin.

These were very dark, not like the picture. Meh.

These placemats are going to work for me after some effort on my part. They arrived extremely dirty and I had to take them to the garage sink and wash them thoroughly. After drying I have applied wood polish and they are beginning to show some very nice color. They will require one more coat of polish at the very least. The color of the placemats should not be considered uniform as each one has its own characteristics. They have great potential.

I would really like these if the quality control was better. I ordered two sets of 4 and got 4 good mats, two usable ones, and two throw aways. All I needed was 6, but unfortunately the color did not match between the two sets. Stitching on the borders is very poor, I'm sure sewing through bamboo is a challenge, but if you are going to sell a product you need to find a way to produce it correctly. Some of the bamboo strips were kind of shredded with putty added in places to try to repair them. Those pieces never should have made it into finished products. On the plus side, they are cheap and they are much easier to clean than cloth mats. We have used them daily for 6 months and they don't look any worse than when they were new. I may end up ordering more so that I can try to complete a full set.

I love the top of this product, but the bottom isn't finished nicely. The bottom is like a cheap net material, which is hard to keep clean & doesn't match the high quality look & feel of the bamboo. I have little respect for things that aren't well made in every way, where the only care put into it is on the part that's most visible. That's lame.. & a shame.

I purchased these placemats to put on square Parsons tables and placed a table lamp on top. The mats are very stiff but serve the purpose I intended them for. I don't think I would use these as kitchen placemats as I think they would be hard to keep clean.

Weirdly purple in color? The pictures can be slightly deceiving as the edges of the placements kind-of look purple instead of brown.Pros:-Good place mats for a person with a first apartment-Cool wooden bamboo feelCons:-Purple hue on stitched edges-Do not last very long and not very washable

Have used this reluctantly for awhile. They are much more finished looking in the photos than in reality. They perform their function but I'lle eventually toss them. They have held up for awhile to repeated use so a couple stars for durability. Meh, overall.

slightly difficult to clean because the bamboo splinters and black dye comes off, very nice looking though

These placemats are the exact color of dried straw (a golden ivory color), and aren't of particularly high quality. This being said, for $2 each I don't feel ripped off, just regretful.

I bought these placemats as a temporary solution to eating on my new coffee table. The mats protect the tables from dings and scratches from plates and silverware, and are not an eyesore. Though after using them for a month, the product is already looking worn after only limited use. For the price, I think I could have found a better alternative, but then again, these are for my coffee table and not my dining table. I would definitely recommend a nicer set for formal dining.Would I purchase these again? Probably not, as I don't believe these will last in the long run.If you found this review helpful, please click "Yes" below to let Amazon know. Thank you.

First go around - 1 placemat arrived damaged, one of the slats has snapped and looks awful. Promptly returned the item and was issued a refund. Second go around - ordered the item again, 1 of the placemats is, again, damaged. In the process of returning the damaged item yet again. There is no third times the charm for ordering online... hopefully for those of you who like the look, you receive this functional yet decorative placemat unblemished. Disappointed to say the least, quality if otherwise acceptable for price point.

Impossible to keep clean

These are good for show. Doesn't seem to hold up to actual use. Besides the fact that they're so light you don't dare to actually eat on them (yes, totally an oversight on my side).I have another set of Bamboo placemats that I've had for years. They're starting to fray in places and I wanted to replace them with the same material. But these simply started coming apart. I decided to replace them with cloth mats and toss the set.

The placements are very attractive, especially for the price, although I initially reported that two were somewhat flawed, with the adhesive webbing showing through. When I reported that the quality of the mats was inconsistent, I received a prompt reply with an offer to receive replacement mats. The replacements mats arrived promptly and I now have a lovely set of four on my table.

I am bummed as I love the look and size of these mats, perfect! But 2 days out of the package and the strings started fraying ....BOO. I really wanted to keep these for a long time, guess quality is a thing of the past.

I like the concept, design, and the visual aesthetics, but the quality was very poor.Received my order with faded colors as if the color was just brushed on with poor water color paint.I don't like the idea of my food being around fading paint.Also, there was a big chip, crack on another.I'm in the process of returning this item.If I can exchange it for a natural, no added color and brushed smooth with no varnish of sort, then I would exchange it for those.

I did not care for the quality and returned them.

looks nice but hard to clean. wood chips very easily

These are great if you are going to set them somewhere as decoration as they are nice looking, but they don't hold up well to being cleaned or for extended use. Food gets stuck between the cracks, the dye rubs off with any sort of liquid contact and the border doesn't stay on well.

Not washable, drab and dry looking. Would be nice if it had a sheen that you could wipe with a damp cloth.

The product would be ok if they add a solid vinyl or plastic backing or sealed the bamboo with a resin. But instead several uneven slats left gaps in the top bamboo. Any large crumbs would be caught by the mesh and small crumbs would fall right through. Liquid would pass through. I looked at 8 of these mats and this was true to some extent on all of them, though some were a bit better in terms of smaller gaps.The died black color was uneven on several slats as well.This product is fine for occasional use or if you only want to protect a table from scratch or to add decoration. But as a functional placemat, the design is poor.

This product is cheap and generally looks good. That said, there are two problems.First, if any water gets on it, the stain comes off. This results in portions of the place mats dripping stain onto whatever is underneath. If you place these on a porous or unfinished surface, the stain will sink in and ruin your furniture. This additionally causes portions of the place mat to lose color.Second, from the moment they arrive, the stain is inconsistent. It appears that the bamboo does not absorb the water-soluble stain consistently, or is not stained correctly. In my set, one place mat was noticeably lighter than all the others, and could not be used as part of the "set".Overall: 2/5.

Rough and ugly. The product came with unfinished thread ends on every single one of them. And they are either dirty or color off easily. I've tried to wipe them clean several times. Yet it still came off with dark colors on my wiper.

Cheap product. When cleaned it's all black dirt that comes off even after 5-6 cleanings with wet towel. Towel turns black. Intend to return.

Food gets stuck in the bamboo slats and they slide everywhere. Defeats the purpose of having a placemat.

I initially was very pleased with the product and thought it looked nice when it arrived but not even one week later, the black border has begun to come off. The thread is frayed and pulling apart. Really cheap quality and was essentially a waste of money. Would not recommend or buy again AT ALL.

Beautiful look, but HORRIBLE quality. Seams not even finished.

Awful - the placemats looked as though tape had been placed across the wood for a long time then peeled off, leaving shiny bands of adhesive residue and pulling off the dark stain on the wood. Not even usable.

I've had these for about 2 months and they seemed nice. But if you put a drink on the placemat, and the glass condensates, the color of the mat bleeds through onto the surface it is on. Long story short the color bled into the finish and damaged my wood table!!

DON'T BUY THESE! I BOUGHT THEM (BLACK) AND THEY LOOKED GREAT, BUT CAN'T BE USED AS PLACEMATSAS WHEN THEY GET WET THE DYE RUNS. THIS PLACEMAT HAS APPARENTLY STAINED MY $2500. TEAK DININGTABLE AND I"M RATHER PISSED ABOUT IT!I'LL FOLLOW UP ON THIS SOON!Found out that the dye used also stains Formica countertops!

You get what you pay for. I have a beautiful oak dinning table. These mats left behind dark stain impressions. I tried using all purpose cleaner to get rid of the stains, but it didn't work. I'll try something tougher, and I hope I can get the stains out. Don't spend $8 to possibly ruin a $1,000 dining room table.

These looked okay at first, but I have used them through about 6 meals now and have approximately one million splinters. Not recommended.

Opening the package was a shocker: the first placemat had white threads coming from all sides. The second placemat had twisted bamboo slices in the middle that showed the white layer underneath, and all of them had crappy quality.I've had bamboo placemats before. These are not bamboo placemats. They are thin twisted bamboo slices placed on a layer of cloths with no attention to detail and quality. They look horrible!Totally not worth the price!

I thought these black placemats were a fantastic bargain, but then I had a mishap with some water and the dye ran like crazy. I understand that drenching something dyed might cause some trouble, but a permanent black stain on wood from a placemat kind of defeats the purpose, no? They look nice, but here's hoping you don't get anything moist on them.