Oak Hollow Aloria office chair review: Airflow up top and business down below

The Oak Hollow Aloria is a premium office chair with a mostly premium showing. It features high-quality materials that should hold up for years with no problems, and it offers plenty of customization and adjustability alongside a solid warranty. It's not perfect, but it does more right than wrong, making it worth consideration for your office setup.

In my Oak Hollow Aloria review, I’ll take you through everything it gets right, as well as the few things it gets wrong, so that you can make an informed decision about whether it's the best office chair for you.

Oak Hollow Aloria review: Specs

Oak Hollow Aloria review: Price and availability

The Oak Hollow Aloria can be purchased in multiple variants at different price points from the official Oak Hollow website.

Each version has a mesh backrest, so the only real difference between them is the type of material used on the seat cushion. The cowhide leather version I was sent costs $799 ($849 with headrest), but you can also select between mesh or fabric versions for $699 ($749 with headrest).

Oak Hollow Aloria review: Design and comfort

Strictly in terms of looks, the Oak Hallow Aloria is one of my favorite office chairs in recent memory. It's a stylish product sporting a sleek black aesthetic accented with a chrome wheelbase and backrest frame. It's the kind of chair you'd expect to see in an upscale attorney's office, but it slots in just fine in a home setup too.

The backrest mesh is bouncy and breathable, and it comes with adjustable lumbar support located around the back side. The lumbar cushion is very supportive, but it never feels as though it's going to puncture a kidney like the overly aggressive lumbar support of many similar office chairs. I'm also a fan of the backrest's shape, which is wider up top and thinner at the bottom to match the natural curves of the human body. It's both visually appealing and practical.

Meanwhile, the seat cushion comes covered with whatever material you choose during the buying process. While I can't speak to the mesh or fabric options, I'm a huge fan of the genuine cowhide leather on the Hollow Oak Aloria I was sent for review. It's not only very comfortable — thanks in part to the soft yet supportive cushion itself — but it's also more resistant to wear and tear than the cheaper synthetic materials used on most office chairs.

Beyond the three seat cushion materials you'll have to choose between, you'll also need to decide which size pneumatic cylinder height you'd like. This latter customization choice is important, as it defines the overall height that chair can reach, meaning especially short or tall folks will want to aim for the appropriately-named "short" or "tall" cylinders, respectively. If you're average height, the "standard" cylinder is likely to be fine. Regardless of which you pick, the weight limit remains the same at 300lbs.

Lastly, you'll need to determine whether you want the base chair or the version with a headrest, which is made of the same mesh as the backrest. The mesh is pulled pretty tight, so it's a bit hard for my tastes, but it's not necessarily uncomfortable once you find the right angle. I'd argue that it's a worthwhile add-on for an extra $50 considering that it'll run you double that if you decide to purchase it separately later.

Unfortunately, things don't fare too well when it comes to the Oak Hollow Aloria's 4D armrests. The overwhelming majority of chairs I've used in the last decade or so have levers just beneath the armrest pads that allow you to adjust the height with your fingers while you apply pressure from the top with your thumb. But this chair opts to place a round button about halfway down the side of the armrest instead, so you have to wrap your hand around the base and press in with your palm while pulling up or down. It works, but it feels janky and awkward.

This is made worse by the fact that there's no feedback to tell you where the individual height settings are during adjustment. As a result, you have to guess the height you want, let off the button, then sort of nudge the armrest pad up or down until it clicks into the closest notch with a terribly loud popping noise. It may be a minor irritation for folks who rarely adjust their armrests anyway, but it's an annoyance nonetheless.

Things begin to pick back up for the Oak Hollow Aloria when you take a glance at its warranty, though. The chair comes with a lifetime warranty on components and 5-year warranty on the seat cushion's leather and foam. I feel very confident in the long-term durability of the chair given its sturdy frame and high-quality materials, so seeing a good, long-term warranty is icing on the cake.

Oak Hollow Aloria review: What's adjustable

As expected, the seat mechanism underneath the Oak Hollow Aloria allows for various types of adjustments. You can slide the seat in and out to improve leg comfort, as well as move it up or down in traditional fashion. You can also change the tilt tension or lock the backrest.

The headrest can be adjusted up or down and pivoted to meet your head and neck's needs, while the 4D armrests can slide up or down and inward or outward — though, as I mentioned earlier, doing so is a noisy and inefficient affair.

The lumbar support mechanism on the back slides up or down on a rail of sorts. It's a bit tough to reach while sitting down, but the rail is reasonably long, so finding the right position for ideal ergonomics shouldn't pose a problem for most users.

Oak Hollow Aloria review: Assembly

I've received and assembled dozens of chairs throughout my career, and I've never received a box as poorly packaged as the one containing my Oak Hollow Aloria. Given the price point of this chair, I was shocked to open the box and find each piece of the chair haphazardly tossed inside with almost nothing protecting or securing them. A few stray pieces of bubble wrap and folded cardboard were carelessly tossed in random spots nowhere near potential friction points.

I've seen more organized shipping boxes for $50 chairs, and it was disappointing to see that my Oak Hollow Aloria's right armrest had some scuffs on it as a result of this negligence.

Despite all the disarray within the box, I was surprised to find the armrest scuffs were the only noticeable damage to the chair's parts. I got everything out and took stock, then got to building the chair. And I was happy to find that the assembly process was straightforward and effortless, which helped make up slightly for the horrible packing job.

I was able to get the Oak Hollow Aloria together in about 20 minutes. The instructions were clear and concise, and the included tools posed no problems. Additionally, I was delighted to find that the whole thing was lightweight enough to piece things together on my own, so I didn't need to request assistance from my wife despite nursing a partial rotator cuff tear. I probably should have — but the point is that the Oak Hollow Aloria should be a cinch for most folks to assemble solo. And also that I'm stubborn.

Oak Hollow Aloria review: Verdict

The Oak Hollow Aloria makes up for its handful of faults by being an attractive, comfortable, and versatile office chair. There's a lot to love here with its premium materials, wealth of adjustment options, easy assembly, and solid warranty. If you're in the market for a sleek office chair that will last for years to come, you could do much worse than the Oak Hollow Aloria. Just don't be afraid to speak up if your chair arrives with any damage from the slapdash shipping box packaging.