Neither my wife’s chair nor my chair has a cushion underneath the mesh. It’s just plastic underneath the mesh, and you can easily wipe dust off the plastic.
This means more stress is put on the strands than for a full cover upholstery.
While that may be true, I’ve had more issues with foam chairs than mesh chairs.
There are some foam + upholstery chairs that are very good though, like the Steelcase Gesture (which rivals the Herman Miller Aeron).
Neither my wife’s chair nor my chair has a cushion underneath the mesh. It’s just plastic underneath the mesh, and you can easily wipe dust off the plastic.
While that may be true, I’ve had more issues with foam chairs than mesh chairs.
There are some foam + upholstery chairs that are very good though, like the Steelcase Gesture (which rivals the Herman Miller Aeron).