That never should have been allowed to happen in the first place.
I've always wondered if cats wouldn't sharpen their claws on leather furniture. We had a fake leather reclining chair once, and they didn't bother that. We have a microfiber couch now, and keep it covered with blankets all the time to keep kitty damage to a minimum. It looks almost new after 5 years... except for the fact that the release cables on the recliners have broken.
It's such a pain to get the feet up on them now that we just leave them sprung up most of the time.
A new couch is somewhere in our future--- but probably not until after our youngest is out of college.