Frank said:
The fabric is light and seems very porous...
I am not a big fan of the material I saw on the seats, but I thought it was much better than the stark white upholstery that was in the "display" model Leaf they had on the Tour event last year. I wish we had a choice of interior colors rather than none, but you can't have everything, I guess. We'll probably put covers on them to preserve them anyway.
As far as having them redone, leather would be a lot more expensive than some of the synthetic materials available. The price depends greatly on where you have the work done as well. I have had sport seats recovered in vinyl for $175 here in San Diego, and had shops quote them for $700 in leather. Going to Tijuana to have them done has been the traditional "cheap" way for SD hot-rodders to have interiors done for many decades. There are quite a few very talented, reliable, auto body and interior shops in TJ that do great work for low cost, if you're willing to cross the border.
TT