3 perspectives on sustainability in the furniture industry
Sustainability is more than a buzz word in today’s society and economy. It is an important topic across various industries and also of major importance for the furniture industry. Having co-founded a startup that tries to enhance at least one facet of furniture sustainability, I always tried to define the problems that are currently present in this industry. Taking the value chain as a structure here’s what I came up with (without attempting to be comprehensive).
1. Sustainability in production
While purchasing and utilizing furniture, many consumers, especially the younger generations consider the sustainability of the production. Four out of five persons in Germany consider this issue an important topic and an upward trend can be observed induced by sustainability trends across various industries.
People care about the materials used in production and where or how these materials are sourced. The only downturn for many people is the high prices for sustainable products in comparison to ordinary pieces of furniture.
But how do I, as a customer, know which items are produced in a sustainable manner? As more and more furniture that is sold in Germany is sourced from Eastern European or East Asian countries, the assessment of real sustainability during production becomes more and more difficult. In many cases, it is almost impossible to tell whether the retailer’s sustainability claim is valid or not.
An indication for the eco-friendliness and sustainability of production are various quality labels like Blauer Engel or FSC. But even though some of these labels indicate a superior sustainability-standard in certain aspects in comparison to peer products, it does not necessarily mean that these items are sustainably produced overall. To give you an example (exaggeration intended):
If there are ten different sofas, all of which are produced with the same kind of wood, which is not necessarily sourced sustainable, but the cover of one sofa is made from a more sustainable fabric, this might lead to a quality label for this sofa and none for the other nine. Furthermore, for many of these labels, it is not possible to tell which of two certified products actually is more eco-friendly.
A last downside of some quality labels is that they are only issued upon application, so there might be products on the market that are more sustainable, but don’t carry the label. Some producers even decide to not apply for the label or if certified not to show the certification to avoid an increased awareness for environmental problems.
So overall, it can be said that quality labels can give a vague indication for the sustainability in production, but in many cases, additional information is required to be 100% sure.
2. Sustainability in retail
Many of you will know the following situation: You are trying to purchase clothes online, but are unsure which is the right size for you or how the colour shown in the picture will look in real life. What will you do in most cases? Right, order multiple sizes and multiple colour options of the same item, try it on and then just return the items you like the least or even all of them. In Germany, there is a statutory 14 days right of revocation for online purchases and most of the larger online fashion retailers even offer the return shipment for free. This is no big deal if you are dealing with clothes, but what if you are an online furniture retailer?
It is obvious that a sofa does not fit into a post box, the use of specialized furniture logistics companies is necessary, especially for bulk items. But that doesn’t mean that these retailers don’t face the exact same problem. In comparison to the fashion industry, the online return ratio is of course lower, for the majority of the home and interior companies in Germany it was below 10% in Germany. But with an overall online sales volume of around 7 billion in 2018, it is still an enormous chunk of furniture that is being returned. Of course, the reason for the return might differ from case to case, some customers just don’t like the colour, others return it due to minor or major damages. But what happens to these returned items?
The communication concerning this issue by many large players in the furniture industry is a little opaque, so it is not 100% transparent what will happen in these cases. The question whether returned items can legally be resold as “new” to the end customer leaves room for interpretation: It is possible if the items don’t show any “traces of usage”, which is construed differently from retailer to retailer. Typically, the returned items are bundled in separate warehouses first before their fate is determined.
Depending on the condition, some retailers refurbish the furniture, some sell it to bulk purchasers that buy it by the truck and resell it in outlets or ship it to Africa and some just scrap it, because refurbishment, repackaging or the process of examining the furniture is more expensive in comparison.
Tons of furniture in an “as good as new” condition just go to waste year by year, which leaves significant room for improvement concerning sustainability.
3. Sustainability in consumption
Everyone that has moved more than one time with lower quality furniture, often made from cheap chipboard, knows that the lifetime of this kind of furniture is very limited. Only in rare cases the relocation is endured without damages or even having to throw away the furniture.
This kind of low-quality furniture is one of the reasons why furniture consumption increases by 150% every ten years. More and more retailers offer lower quality mass-produced furniture which are offered at affordable prices. With the lower quality and low prices, people are less hesitant to just throw away the furniture when they relocate. The way our grandparents used furniture, with high quality handcrafted wooden furniture that is inherited from generation to generation, is outdated even though this approach would be much more sustainable.
One pragmatic way to counteract the trend of disposable furniture and thus increase sustainability in the consumption of furniture is furniture rental concepts.
We at Roomovo have set ourselves the goal to enhance this sort of sustainability in the furniture industry: We offer furniture for rent at an above average quality to ensure it can be used by multiple persons. Between rental cycles, the furniture is refurbished to maintain the quality and thus the lifetime of each piece of furniture is maximized.
If you are currently living in Berlin or will be moving there soon you’re lucky: We will be launching our service in Berlin on April 1, 2019.
