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Ikea Sets its Eyes on Reuse
Ikea wants you to forget everything you know. Despite being famous for flimsy product, it now believes the future is all about reuse. A huge global brand, Ikea has more than 422 stores in 50 markets and sells over 9,500 products. It is well known for its snappy furniture designs, massive stores, affordable prices, and DIY at-home assembly. It helped make ‘flat pack furniture,’ something commonly known for its mass production and low quality, irresistible to young consumers. IKEA shoppers dominate the mid-20s-mid 30s demographic. Though IKEA bristles at being considered disposable, it is now calling attention to its need to ‘close the loop.’ Modern speak for recapturing product–often headed…
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Imagining Benefits that Benefited the Long Term
How much does language influence our thoughts? I love this example. A hospital connotes care, even when applied to furniture. This combination of words provides a gentle, refreshing reminder that furniture should not be disposable. Well made frames are built to have many lives. Talented reupholsterers are trained to bring each owner’s specific aesthetic to life. This loving maintenance, also known as reupholstery, powers multigenerational reuse, is kinder to the planet, supports skilled labor, and enriches the local community. Beyond language, what about payment? A hospital is also synonymous with insurance. Companies’ benefit packages offer pet insurance, and student loan payback perks, why not material maintenance insurance? It aligns our…
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In Honor of Secondhand September: My First Chair
Have you heard of #secondhandseptember? Sponsored by @oxfamgb, it’s a pledge to not buy new clothes for the month of September. To raise awareness of fashion’s environmental and social footprint (it’s pretty humongous), people are encouraged to tag images on Instagram and twitter of their fabulous second hand outfits. Cool! Will this help normalize second hand goods, beyond fashion? The resale market of second hand apparel, according to a report from ThredUP (a large online clothing reseller), is expected to swell to $41 billion by 2022! That would double the size of the market in just five years: in 2017, it was $20 billion. Whoa, that’s a big pie. Tech…
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Out of Style = Out of Luck?
Bad chair day: When 90’s fashion makes a roaring comeback and appreciation of crop tops and chokers is high, but adoration of overstuffed floral chairs is not. Bad human day: We’ve built global systems that fuel planned obsolescence over local reinvention for the community good. Discarding something fully functional when a fabric or shape feels outdated or out-of-style is a highly conditioned behavior and often, is intentionally, the easiest option available. Good Earth day: Padded seating is highly malleable. A talented reupholsterer can breathe fresh new life into ANY well-made piece. The potential to customize and reinvent a seat/chair/sofa/couch is limited only by one’s imagination. Now that’s a strategy that…
