Proposed ‘green’ furniture standard may fuel major market shift

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

A proposed Sustainable Assessment Standard for the manufacture of ‘green’ furniture could fuel a major market shift in the industry.

Market trends indicate that consumers are developing new attitudes about what they purchase and are willing to pay more for products that are environmentally friendly, socially responsible, and are healthy to have in the home, school, or workplace.

“The ‘green’ building movement is an international trend where people are integrating environmental attributes into their buildings,” says Bill Stough of Sustainable Research Group. “So customers are asking manufacturers for furniture that doesn't go against the building. Those customers will do their own research and determine which manufacturers are truly conforming [to a ‘green’ standard].”

The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) hired Sustainable Research Group to develop a national ‘green furniture’ standard. The proposed standard will encourage furniture makers to create environmentally safe products by using environmentally safe, sustainable processes and materials.

“A standard will help companies differentiate a better product from a worse product in the marketplace,” Stough says.

West Michigan manufacturers make some 60 percent of the world’s office and institutional furniture. Many of those furniture makers are BIFMA members and are helping develop the ‘green’ standard. Several have already incorporated best practices into their operations.

“That should give them a global advantage in the market,” says Stough. “This will create jobs in Michigan and possibly in the US.”

The standard should be ready for ANSI (American National Standards Institute) review early next year. Once approved, BIFMA’s goal is the development of an international standard.

Source: Bill Stough, Sustainable Research Group

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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].