We’re getting up close and cozy with sustainable sofas. Why? Because between Zoom calls and Netflix binges, we spend a lot of time on our couch.

Unfortunately, due to flame retardants and a plethora of toxins associated with polyurethane foam, many of us are lounging about on piles of harsh chemicals that are bad for our health and the planet’s.

But, couches that are eco-conscious and comfortable are not mutually exclusive. A nap has never been nicer on our planet than with some of our fave sofa brands we’ve curated here. And these brands not only prioritize low-impact materials but also ethical labor and green business practices.

And thanks to our new Brand Rating System that we’re soon to roll out, you can recline even further knowing that we’ll be evaluating brands against a wider range of eco-considerations, like climate impact and circularity, which you can learn about here.

So kick your feet up on your sustainable coffee table, and let’s channel surf through our top picks.

We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.

Eco-Friendly Sofas We’d Lounge On Anyday

Since we’re all about new-to-you, Etsy is the go-to platform for giving secondhand couches a second sit (er, life).

And Yardbird caters to our outdoor furniture needs with their sustainable sofas for alfresco entertaining.

Index: Sustainable Couches To Low-Impact Loveseats

  1. Sabai Design Jump to brand
  2. Medley Jump to brand
  3. Floyd Jump to brand
  4. Yardbird Jump to brand
  5. Etsy Upcycled Furniture Jump to brand
  6. Barker and Stonehouse Jump to brand
  7. MasayaCo Jump to brand

Sabai Design

Sabai Design has not been rated.

About Sabai

Price Range: $745–$3,145

Sabai’s mission is simple, yet impactful: design furniture that keeps costs low for customers and the planet. Choose between the customizable Essential Sofa, the Essential Loveseat, and the Essential Sectional—their take on sectional couches—which comes with a convertible chaise.

Being customizable means all products are made-to-order, but you’ll only need to allow about two weeks for manufacturing. Once it arrives, you’ll be able to assemble it in under 10 minutes (sans tools).

Sabai’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices

Materials:

Sabai raises the bar (er, armrest?) high with FSC-certified wood frames (adhered with VOC-free water-based glue) and a choice of upholstery.

If you’re dreaming of a green velvet couch, you can choose OEKO-TEX Standard 100 and Global Recycling Standard-certified recycled velvet made from 100% recycled water bottles. Otherwise, they offer 100% upcycled Greenguard Gold-certified olefin polyester.

Both fabrics are scratch-proof and stain-resistant. They cover CertiPur-certified non-toxic foam cushions and recycled fiberfill stuffed pillows.

Supply chain & labor practices:

90% of their materials are sourced within 100 miles of production in High Point, North Carolina. They’re also a Certified B Corp.

Carbon comittments & green practices:

Sustainability for Sabai means 100% recycled boxes for packaging, zero plastic, carbon neutral shipping emissions, and couch leg bags that can be reused as produce bags.

With options to buy individual replacement parts, they encourage repairs over replacement. Sabai Revive is their buyback program where you can sell your unwanted Sabai sofa and buy refurbished ones for up to 30% off.

Medley

Medley has not been rated.

About Medley

Price Range: $2,123–$6,438

Medley has some good advice: “Your home is your cozy little nook of the universe. Whatever you bring into it better be made of good stuff.”

Once you’ve got your sustainable bed frame sorted, you might want to consider an eco-friendly sectional couch or perhaps a sleeper sofa with a chaise lounger design. This brand offers both, and while they might not be the least expensive sofas on the market, their extensive range and level of quality are hard to match.

They also have a personalized design service so you can custom design whatever piece fills your space best.

Medley’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices

Materials:

The couches from Medley start with solid wood (not plywood). They only use USA-sourced and FSC-certified wood (kiln-dried alder hardwood) for their frames. The wood is finished with natural furniture polish made from only beeswax, carnauba wax, and olive oil.

Customers have two environmentally sound choices for foam cushions: CertiPUR-US®-certified foam or GOLS-certified organic latex.

They also use natural OEKO-TEX certified wool as filling and GOTS-certified organic cotton for fabric lining, making them one of the only brands to sell organic sofas. When they use synthetics (like polyester, recycled polyester, and polypropylene), they’ve been certified by OEKO-TEX or Greenguard Gold and are free of azo dyes, ozone depleters, heavy metals, and carcinogens.

Supply chain & labor practices:

Filling living rooms with Medley’s USA-made sofas (and furniture) means “hand to home craftsmanship” is embedded in each of the organic sofas—just like those lost remote controls. They use their Los Angeles-based workshop to go back to crafting practices used 150 years ago.

Carbon comittments & green practices:

Domestic manufacturing means carbon emissions from shipping are kept at a minimum. Waste is also minimized through a tailor-made model.

Floyd

Floyd has not been rated.

About Floyd

Price Range: $1,475–$4,030

Floyd is responsible for “the world’s most take-apart-able Sofa”.

If you’re looking for a modular sofa, you can’t get any more modular than this. While a seemingly small selection at first glance—The Sofa and The Sectional—they more than make up for it with customizable options. Each sectional sofa is available in endless configurations which you can build, take apart and reconfigure whenever you need to switch things up.

Floyd’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices

Materials:

Starting from the bottom, the legs on The Sofa are powder-coated steel, the world’s most recyclable material. Then choose between all-natural, top-grade birch plywood, FSC-certified walnut veneer, and upholstered radiata pine plywood panels. All plywood is TSCA Title VI and CARB-2 certified free of formaldehyde.

The stain-resistant exterior fabric is 95% polyester and 5% nylon, chosen for its durability. Beneath that is polyurethane foam, which while still derived from oil, requires fewer chemicals than alternatives. It meets regulatory VOC emission standards and is fully compliant with ISO 14184-1:2011. The back and arm cushions are filled with synthetic feathers.

The frame of The Sectional is made from a high-density Oriented Strand Board (OSB) made from American Plywood Association Voluntary Product Standard 2-10 compliant Southern Yellow Pine.

For upholstery, you can choose between four different types of fabric: 100% polyester, 80% recycled cotton/20% polyester, 90% new wool/10% Helenca, and a blend of 90% Norwegian wool, 8% New Zealand wool, and 1% nylon.

None of the upholstery is treated with chemical fire retardants. Their Performance fabric and Boucle fabric conform with California Proposition 65.

Supply chain & labor practices:

This American-made furniture brand designs all products in Michigan and works with factories in the United States, China, and Mexico. For their Tonus and Sisu upholstery fabric, Floyd partners with Denmark-based textile company Kvadrat.

Carbon comittments & green practices:

Floyd makes “furniture for keeping [because] furniture should be made for the home, not landfill”.

Yardbird

Yardbird has not been rated.

About Yardbird

Price Range: $2,280–$5,770

For watching birds instead of Netflix, Yardbird offers sustainable outdoor furniture including sectional sets, sofa sets, and loveseat sets. With a focus on durable, recyclable, and low-impact materials like ocean-bound recycled plastic, you can kick back with a clear conscience.

Some collections feature a modular customizable design giving you maximum flexibility when designing your pro planet patio.

Yardbirds’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices

Materials:

Yardbird’s wicker is a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) crafted from 50% ocean-bound plastic collected from beaches in the Philippines. They use commercial-grade aluminum for their durable frames.

The seat foam is made from high-density polyurethane and the back cushions from 100% polyester batting. Both are covered in fade-and-water-resistant Sunbrella fabric. Sunbrella® is unfortunately acrylic-based—meaning it’s a synthetic fabric made from plastic similar to polyester. However, it’s designed to last, water and stain-repellent, and produced in a way that minimizes energy and water waste.

Supply chain & labor practices:

Fabrics, thread, and mechanical parts are sourced from the USA. Other materials come from Europe and Asia, like responsibly-sourced teak harvested in Indonesia. Final assembly takes place in Vietnam, China, and the US.

Carbon comittments & green practices:

Yardbird offsets 100% of its carbon footprint via Carbon Fund.

The brand wants to “furnish homes not landfills.” Materials are selected for durability and longevity and there are detailed instructions on care and maintenance. The Sunbrella fabric has a 5-year warranty and Yardbird’s frames have a 10-year warranty.

They use recyclable materials and packaging where possible.

Etsy Upcycled Furniture

Etsy Upcycled Furniture has not been rated.

About Etsy Upcycled Furniture

Price Range: Various

Etsy is the Certified B Corp and global ethical marketplace giving small brands a loudspeaker.

Not only is it one of our favorite places to find zero waste beauty brands and support small artists in all disciplines, but it also happens to be one of our go-tos for furniture.

There are literally endless options here, like creative re-purposer Aikin Innovations who transforms old cribs into loveseats, and Jane Hall Design, whose recycled upholstered chairs and settees give off a delightfully bespoke vintage vibe.

Etsy’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices

Materials:

The innovative materials used by Etsy shops are just as unique and creative as the two million sellers are.

When looking for sustainable sofa furniture, check for salvaged or reclaimed wood (for a vintage home decor vibe), upcycled fabrics, certified organic fabrics, and sustainable sofa fillings (like organic wool batting and natural latex).

Supply chain & labor practices:

Most sellers are up-front about their sourcing and production practices, but there’s always an opportunity to directly connect and ask any additional questions. Small-scale operations mean cutting out middlemen and promoting smaller, more transparent supply chains.

Carbon comittments & green practices:

Buying recycled, upcycled, or reclaimed furniture helps prevent items from ending up in landfill. Many sellers also welcome custom, made-to-order options, which helps reduce waste from excess stock.

You can often find a locally based seller (or at least one in your country) to minimize the shipping footprint. For those occasions where you can’t, Etsy offsets all shipping emissions.

Barker and Stonehouse

Barker and Stonehouse has not been rated.

About Barker and Stonehouse

Price Range: £1,035–£2,945

Barker and Stonehouse has been making furniture for decades. Since the aftermath of World War II, in fact.

As one of the best sofa companies sustainable UK shoppers have access to, the Big Blue Sofa line is actually rather green with their recycled sofas made from plastic bottles. The first of its kind, every single element of this sofa is 100% recyclable.

Rest assured if blue isn’t your color, they also offer sofas with light gray non-toxic upholstery.

In addition to other furniture, their sofa furniture line includes large and small straight sofas, corner sofas, snuggle chairs, footstools, and swivel chairs.

Barker and Stonehouse’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices:

Materials:

Each couch features sustainably sourced wood frames and composite sheets held together with metal hardware or water-based, formaldehyde-free glue.

The outer upholstery is 80% recycled REPREVE, 20% recycled viscose, with an 80% recycled plastic bottle lining cloth.

The Quallofil Blue seat cushioning features 50% recycled content and the back cushions are Wellman’s fiber made from 100% recycled water bottles.

Supply chain & labor practices:

Each Big Blue sofa is made in the UK. B&S compiles annual Gender Pay Gap reports and while they recognize there is still work to do, they make progress each year.

Carbon comittments & green practices:

All of these recycled plastic couches are made-to-order and (along with their mattresses) are 100% recyclable through their partner Speedy Clear.

Where possible, their stores and factories feature living walls, low-energy heating and lighting, and renewable energy via solar panels.

As the UK’s first Carbon Neutral Plus brand’ orders are delivered via the shortest possible routes in a fleet of lightweight, fuel-efficient vans. They’re exploring electric options for the future. The delivery driver takes back the wrapping after unpacking so B&S can recycle it properly.

MasayaCo

MasayaCo has not been rated.

About MasayaCo

Price Range: $1,400–$6,220

The functional stylings of MasayaCo are so eye-catching that they practically double as sustainable home decor. This brand will spruce up your home inside and out with furniture for every room in the house—plus the garden.

They offer minimalist yet multi-purpose designs, like their Floating Couch which features built-in end tables.

While we haven’t had a chance to test out any of their sofas, we do have small pieces of theirs, and can attest to the quality of both the construction and the non-toxic finishes. We actually love using the Zapatera Stool as a versatile, moveable coffee table in conjunction with our own couch (until we need to replace that with a MasayaCo couch, of course!).

MasayaCo’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices

Materials:

MasayaCo uses sustainably harvested hardwood for the frame, a low-VOC natural oil finish, and hand-made Sunbrella® fabric for the upholstery.

Supply chain & labor practices:

All products are fair trade, heritage, sustainable, and animal-free (pssst, if you’re looking for a vegan sustainable sofa, this could be it!). You can see where their couches have been produced (Nicaragua) along with the rest of the product information.

Carbon comittments & green practices:

MasayaCo uses FSC certified and sustainably harvested teak which is also processed in solar-powered kilns. Their Seed to Seat business model helps to reforest land previously used for cattle farming.

Why Invest In An Eco-Friendly Couch?

One of the most dangerous aspects of the furniture industry is that it is responsible for products that are quite literally dangerous to our health. Furniture finishes and fabrics treated with flame retardants often contain toxic chemicals like formaldehyde, neurotoxins, carcinogens, and heavy metals.

The same can be said of lots of homewares, which is why items like sustainable bedding, eco-friendly pillows, organic rugs, and sustainable shower curtains should be considered carefully.

The foam filling in couch cushions and mattresses, for example, contain PVC and other harmful chemicals known to cause nerve damage. All this contributes to “Sick Building Syndrome” and indoor air pollution, which the EPA maintains is worse than outdoor air pollution, leading to chronic illness and severe health issues.

The furniture industry is also making our earth look like something straight from Hoarders. Most “build-it-yourself” box furniture and futons from the likes of Walmart and Ikea are cheaply made and designed to die.

Sure, they may satisfy an immediate seating need, but when the moving trucks arrive, they probably won’t make the cut.

Amazon may offer free shipping but the environmental cost of lugging these heavy, made-in-China pieces is far far higher.

Speaking of lugging (logging), many furniture pieces (including couch frames) are made from wood that encourages illegal logging, rainforest deforestation (since many desirable hardwoods grow there), and biodiversity loss.