4 Eco-friendly & Non-toxic Sofa Brands for Cozy Couch Lounging
It’s time to pause and think about what your cozy couch is made of! Unfortunately, there could be toxic materials lurking in the furniture of your living room and home office than you can imagine.
Most furniture is industrially mass-produced (there’s a 98% chance that you’re sitting on mass-produced furniture while you read this).
Most of that furniture is manufactured, dyed, spill-proofed, etc., using toxic chemicals.
This guide will help you understand some of the materials found in sofas, explore cleaner materials to look for, and feature some amazing sustainable sofa brands making couches with less toxic materials!
This post does contain some affiliate links which means The Honest Consumer may receive a commission if you decided to purchase. Our commission is at no additional expense to you!
What toxic chemicals can be found in traditional sofas?
We all know the smell of new furniture. However, it might not be something you want to be inhaling because this scent can come from semi-volatile organic compounds.
Semi-volatile organic compounds or SVOC’s are harmful chemicals that are present in all indoor environments like furniture, and building materials.
These can cause horrible side effects like eye, nose, and throat irritation, headaches, and nausea when inhaled.
In addition, flame or fire retardants like penta BDE, octa BDE, deca BDE, perchloroethylene are most likely coating your sofa.
These chemicals prevent your sofa from ignition from stray cigarettes or candles and also slow the spread of fire. However, these are also extremely toxic and harmful to the environment.
Polishes, laminates, glues, glosses, and fabrics besides other stuff in furniture may appear harmless but are at most times ridden with toxic chemicals.
Some of the popular chemical culprits in these include formaldehyde and acetaldehyde.
Formaldehyde can be found in pressed-wood products, adhesives, plywood, fabrics, and product coatings.
Moreover, ozone depleters like chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and fluorinated gases are used as blowing agents for the polyurethane foam which is used for filling sofas.
Furniture is also laden with heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, and nickel apart from pesticides and wood preservatives like pentachlorophenol and atrazine.
What are eco-friendly materials should people choose?
Before we dive into our list of amazing less toxic couch brands, let’s learn about sustainable materials to prioritize in a new couch!
Using organic sofas would mean that you don’t need to keep your kids or your pets off of them. With furniture, just remember that you must be kept in the loop about “who produced what” and every step of the materials present in furniture must be traceable. Buying a poor-quality sofa can save you money at that moment but if you buy a good quality one, you wouldn’t have to worry about investing in sofas every couple of years.
Sustainably sourced wood, natural materials, or less-processed fabric, organic upholstery, should be things to look out for when shopping for eco-friendly sofas.
Certified materials with a reliable certification label are always a green flag. Try to look for this as far as possible.
Moreover, try to look for cleaner forms of polyurethane if you opt for foam made of synthetic materials. For instance, CertPUR-US certified polyfoam. Otherwise, opt for organic natural rubber latex to make your sofa 100% organic.
Use natural materials like cotton, jute, hemp, or linen for the upholstery. It would be all the better if you could use GOTS certified organic cotton or OEKO Tex Standard.
For wood try to prefer sofas made of locally available wood. If none of the local woods catch your attention, then consider exotic wood provided they come with an FSC certification. This would ensure that the wood was not unsustainably grown or harvested.
The Best Non-Toxic Sofas Made with Eco-friendly Materials
The good news is that there are a few non-toxic sofa brands that cater to just the eco-friendly community.
These non-toxic furniture companies featured high quality products crafted to last for a long time.
This post does contain some affiliate links which means The Honest Consumer will receive a commission if you decide to purchase, however, at no additional cost to you!
Savvy Rest Organic Sofas
Price Range: $2999-$3999
Savvy Rest has a range of organic sofas named the Verona line consisting of the Verona sofa, loveseat, armchair, and the Ottoman.
Made with natural Talalay latex, organic fabrics, and sustainably sourced maple, their furniture is also customizable and you can choose between a variety of organic fabrics.
The materials used are GOTS certified upholstery, formaldehyde-free plywood, and organic wool batting.
The most special feature of their furniture is that it is hand-built by woodworkers. For the foam, soft or firm latex options can be chosen.
Savvy Rests organic loveseats and sofas come in a variety of colors too.
Sabai’s Affordable Eco-friendly Couches featuring Circular Design
Price Range: $995-$1695
Sabai has modern designed sofas and chairs available in 8 different colors and will fit into any home. Sabai believes in closed-loop solutions and that’s why many of their sofas are made of upcycled water bottles or recycled velvet.
Untreated fabric is used for their sofas which are certified recycled velvet with OEKO-TEX Standard and the Global Recycling Standard. The colors of the upholstery are very attractive and a choice between dark or light legs is available.
They also offer replacement components like slipcovers, back pillow covers, seat cushion covers, and furniture legs.
Sabai couches are made in a family-owned factory in High Point, North Carolina committed to quality, safety, and a living wage.
Medley Home’s Sustainable Couches
Price Range: $1800-$4000
At Medley Home, old-school techniques and premium materials are used to make the furniture look miles apart from other brands.
They value craftsmanship and produce standard designs which are nothing fussy but high on functionality and comfort.
No harsh chemicals or fire retardants are used in their sofas which makes them family, kid, and pet friendly.
The foam is made using CertiPUR-US certified polyfoam and certified organic natural latex.
Handmade in Los Angeles, Medley sofas use domestically sourced, solid wood frames with a lifetime guarantee.
The alder, walnut, and maple wood that is used, always come from FSC certified forests.
Bamboo is also used in their furniture as it is a highly sustainable material.
Inside Weather’s Modern Design & Recycled Materials
Price Range: $1500+
Inside Weather's sofas are made in the United States with modern design and eco-conscious materials such as recycled water bottles. Inside Weather's products are made to order and easily customizable.
The kiln-dried solid wood and baltic birch plywood on their sofas are FSC & SFC Certified.
This eco-conscious furniture company does not use flame retardant and in order to offset their carbon footprint Inside Weather plants two trees for each purchase with the National Forest Foundation.
The company is actually carbon negative.
Their website makes customization easy and their couches range from $1500+ depending on style and customizations.
What about shopping for an Eco-friendly Sofa in Stores?
When shopping for a new sofa some people prefer to be able to go and sit on the furniture which is totally understandable.
You obviously want to make sure the seat cushions are comfortable and you love the color.
If you're looking to shop in store I would try Pottery Barn or West Elm. They are continuing to expand their sustainable and fair trade furniture, so you might be able to find a couch made with recycled or organic materials.
What harmful materials should consumers avoid when shopping for a sofa?
As we discussed some of the chemicals above, these are a few other reminders to keep in mind when looking for a sofa made from cleaner materials.
Avoid fossil fuel-based furniture as much as possible. These include polyesters, plastic, and plywood
Try to ensure that the foam used in your sofas also does not contain flame retardants
Change your foam if you know it has flame retardants. It was found that the levels of harmful chemicals in a household could be reduced by replacing old foam with new ones without flame retardants
Try to avoid synthetic fibers for upholstery
Try not to buy furniture made from wood composites
Are there potential health issues associated with these dangerous chemicals?
These are just a few of the potential risks to our health by having toxic furniture in our homes.
It is reported that children who live in houses with sofas that have flame retardants were found to have traces of potentially harmful toxins in their urine or blood. Scary stuff.
Flame retardants can migrate out of the furniture into the air and then into dust which we inhale. Exposure to these can cause cancer, decreased fertility, lower IQ, and thyroid disease.
Formaldehyde causes watery eyes, burning sensations in places of contact, coughing, wheezing, and nausea. Long-term exposure to it can also cause cancer. Nasal tumors have been found in rats and laryngeal tumors in hamsters that have been exposed to acetaldehyde.
What is the environmental impact of toxic furniture?
Over production of furniture obviously has a wide range of environmental impacts. Here are a few specifics.
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Furniture is responsible for around 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and non-renewable energy consumption in a building.
Brominated flame retardants are known to be extremely harmful to the environment. Their presence has been detected in air, dust, soil, water, food, and wildlife. Once in the body, they can stay for several years. The process of obtaining polyurethane for foam filling also causes significant environmental pollution. Fluorinated gases are greenhouse gases that increase the rate of global warming and chlorofluorocarbons deplete the ozone layer.
Although they come with an exciting cheap price tag, try to avoid sofas made using wood composites. These are dangerous and difficult to dispose of safely. They also release high amounts of carbon emissions.
Ultimately, the indoor environment in which many of us spend most of our time is the most important environment to keep free of toxins.
Hopefully this guide helped you learn the best way to shop for a new piece of furniture and find safe non-toxic couches.
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If you do decide to purchase a new sustainable sofa, be sure to get rid of your old couch in a responsible way!
Meet the Author
Anamika is a scientist by day and a freelance writer by night! She is a researcher with a background in Forest Sciences with strong interests in sustainability. She is currently pursuing her PhD from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and writes blogs related to sustainability and the environment in her free time. Learn more from Anamika on LinkedIn.
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