Labour cost. You live in a rich country with high labour costs and high overheads (property), so cost per hour for labour will always be high. Factory made stuff is no comparison - they're geared up for mass production so the labour content is minimised.
@rickyrooo1 why not buy the foam pads and a replacement covers (USA companies do them) and then recover then at TE?
Thanks for that pic @Sir Arthur ! That explains which seats were originally in our van when we bought it. Unfortunately the drivers seat had collapsed, and had scatter a cushion wedged in the base to make it usable. This made it exceedingly uncomfortable on anything over a 30min drive. I pulled them out and replaced with a pair of £50 MGF seats off ebay.
Original seats installed when I had it were Escort Turbo seats - got £300 for them on ebay as they were a one year only pattern (who knew!). I found the bolster height a real pain to get over, so swapped them for Saab 9000 seats, which it was quickly apparent were too tall for me - I can't drive at a stoop. I then got some Porsche Tombstones - which I ballsed up re dying, and only a few months ago sorted (I'll do a thread on that saga). As an interim I got some Porsche 928 seats that transpired were surplus to requirements, @rickyrooo1 inherited them, then @whereuromnosecity - I don't think anyone has fitted those.
My bus came with these (minibus seats, horrible) Then I fitted these (comfy but too high) And now I have this (comfy but now the right height)
These are the same that I had Comfy!! Although mine now has originals again.. I liked how much more spacious the inside seems without the tall seats blocking the view out the windscreen when sat in the back.. (also, they are the same colour as it left the factory with too, which for some reason I like..) I really need to get rid of the recaro's, they are just clogging up my house..
I've got Type25 seats installed. They could just slide into the original rail-system. When my bus was converted to Westfalia, they just wrapped the seats with cloth. These covers could be transfered to the Type25 seats without a problem. The only drawback is that the seat adjuster. is now to the right just above the sliderrail, where the original seat the adjuster has in the middel at the front. (some pics The old seats The T25 seats The end result greetz Marcel