How to use sustainability as a selling point

HIGH POINT — Many manufacturers, retailers and consumers agree that defining sustainability can be a difficult endeavor. Is it based on materials, process, internal policies or something else?

According to Scarlette Tapp, executive director for the Sustainable Furnishings Council, it’s all of the above as well as an opportunity to tell a strong product story.

“Sustainability is a term that has more teeth than ‘green’ or ‘eco-friendly,’” Tapp said. “In short, SFC defines sustainable furniture as healthy for the planet and the home. But more specifically, we consider sustainability in the home furnishings industry as manufacturing, selling, buying and specifying pieces that pose minimal adverse harm to the planet and are made with little-to-no-known toxic chemicals that pose health risks to workers and consumers.”

Sharing the message

Tapp added that sustainability is a selling point just like comfort, durability and versatility. Pointing out that consumers are taking note, she said that furniture retailers are responding to increased demand for more sustainable options, which factor into furniture’s value.

“Retailers want to appeal to the customers’ value of their family’s health and their furniture choices’ impact on the environment,” Tapp said. “Sharing that sustainable furniture will have a longer life, will be made with materials that do not harm the environment (for example, made with responsibly sourced wood lessens carbon footprint) and will not bring toxins into the home is the best way to tell the story.

“And, sustainably-savvy furnishings customers recognized that ‘fast furniture’ is simply not worth the low cost if it off-gasses toxic chemicals that can make them sick and falls apart to end up in a landfill in a few years.”

The SFC partners with the National Wildlife Federation to help retailers share their sustainability progress via the Wood Furniture Scorecard. Together, SFC and NWF evaluate furniture retailers of all sized for their wood-sourcing policies.

SFC and NWF support retailers with best practices educational opportunities and encourage retailers to publicly declare and implement responsible wood-sourcing policies. These policies ultimately translate into protecting forests when companies and consumers buy and sell FSC-certified or reclaimed wood products.

Happening in 2023

Another issue that is top of mind at the Sustainable Furnishings Council is recent legislation happening on the state level that might eventually impact the entire home furnishings industry.

“A lot of important legislation is happening on the state level,” Tapp said. “For example, California, New York and Maine are tackling the category of toxic chemicals knows as PFAS (per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances), commonly found in furniture and linked to several medical conditions. Nationally, the EPA is conducting ‘virtual listening tours’ in communities around the U.S. to learn about the impact of PFAS.

“SFC partners with the Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons, The New School, the American Sustainable Business Network and the Center for Environmental Health on the ‘What’s It Made Of?’ initiative, which helps the industry identify the ‘Harmful Handful’ of chemicals to avoid and dig deeper into supply chains,” she continued. “Understanding where these chemicals — flame retardants, VOCs, vinyl, fluorinated stain treatments and antimicrobials — may be lurking is critical to making better manufacturing choices. SFC will expand this initiative, offering our members more tools to learn more about what their furniture is actually made of.”

Tapp said the SFC is expanding its offering in 2023 to include a new, more interactive website and learning center.

“Our 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is now poised to be a home furnishings-specific hub of sustainable learning (CEUs, webinars and peer-to-peer learning opportunities) with tools to help our industry create real impact,” she said. “SFC can affect significant industry change as a coalition by guiding our stakeholders — manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and designers — to implement more sustainable practices.”

See also: Sustainable sourcing tour set for High Point Market on Earth Day