If it is the latter
I have found that heating the material helps. That is, underneathe the fabric their is a vinyl shell that when heated allows for adjustment onto the frame.
If memory serves me right I left it in the sun for a few hours on a hot day and putting it together was no problem.
Buena suerte
I haven't tried the heat method,
but I've used a block of wood about the width of the antlers to wedge the side frames apart. It helps if you have a second person. One can pry the frames apart, using the block of wood for leverage, while the other positions the antlers.
I used to ship these chairs pretty frequently. After the first time trying to wrestle one of these monsters back together, I figured out a better way:
I'd remove the screws, and slide the antlers along the frame, keeping the tension in the sling. Once the antlers cleared the mounting holes, I'd attach a scrap piece of angle iron, so that constant tension on the sling was never lost - even in shipping. Reassembling was just a matter of reversing the process.
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