Sustainable Upholstered Furniture

As we will discuss in many if not all of our posts there are many components of manufacturing sustainable and eco-friendly furniture. The products that will be offered at www.ecolivinginstyle.com will all possess some or all of these components. Again our goal is to offer you high end eco-friendly furniture that adheres to the principles of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Sustainable. Our upholstered furniture lines will be no different, but what is it exactly that makes upholstered furniture green, sustainable and eco-friendly? There are many factors from the wood frame, the cushion fill and backing, to the fabric that finishes off the product that make it green.

Firstly many of our furniture suppliers use 100% FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified wood. This means that the wood is harvested using practices that ensure its sustainability. Typically, it is sourced from tree farms that continually grow, cut and replant their stands ensuring a continual cycle of forest growth. No clear cutting and leaving the ground barren is allowed.

Secondly the fill can be made of a variety of sustainable and green materials. Wool sheared from sheep stock that is maintained for year over year harvest is often used for cushion and frame fill. The use of Soy-based (not petroleum-based) foam has been a growing eco-friendly and sustainable trend. Lastly, some of our furniture suppliers use organic cotton as a fill product in some of their components.

Lastly, there are the materials used to cover the finished product. www.ecolivinginstyle.com will offer upholstered furniture of all types, leather included. As for the leather; which in the past was not eco-friendly at all, we will only offer leathers that have been developed using plant oils in the tanning process. This is a relatively new manufacturing process and reduces the usage of the heavy metals that were once employed, uses plant based oils, and reduces the more harmful waste products of the tanning process. Although it may not be the greenest upholstery for furniture, science is working on it. I was able to find this link: http://www.blcleathertech.com/Uploads/PDFs/NovDec07-Whatisanecoleather.pdf which gives some detail of the new greener method of tanning leather. The other types of coverings employed are all highly sustainable and consist of hemp, flax, organic cotton and burlap to name a few.

As this is an open forum blog, we invite you to make any comments or suggestions to this interested here about green furniture and how we all can lead a more eco-friendly lifestyle with the products we buy. Our ecommerce store www.ecolivinginstyle.com should be open for business early next year where you will be able to see first hand the eco-friendly furniture and green accessories you can use to make your home fabulously eco-friendly.

-Eco-Living In Style