What is fast furniture, and why should you avoid it?

Picture this. Your favourite chair broke, and you’re looking for an excellent replacement—ideally, something that’s cheap, looks good and is meant to last.

So you browse your options online. You check out eCommerce platforms and cross-compare sales items across multiple sites. Finally, a chair that you think would fit your office meets your eye — and, surprise, it’s cheap too.

Fast forward to when you start using the chair. You come to realise you’ve made a terrible mistake. Because cheap and good-looking as the chair may be, it is also made of cheap materials, shows signs of only lasting the season, is unethically sourced, and is a wrong purchase.
If this situation sounds familiar, you’ve been a victim of the fast furniture sham. So let’s ditch that cheap quality furniture and explore what fast furniture is and why you should avoid it.

What is fast furniture?

Fast furniture is the kind of furniture that changes with trends. It’s not furniture meant to last or one made with ergonomics or the environment in mind. Instead, it’s the kind of furniture you’re meant to change with every season.

Here are a few attributes of fast furniture that’ll help you make the classification between fast furniture and good quality furniture:

• Fast furniture is a short-term fix
• It’s (usually) not ethically sourced (not only is it made in sweatshops by workers who are paid unfair wages, but it also uses toxic materials that can directly impact the environment).
• It’s made out of cheap quality materials
• The quality and finishing are a bust
• You feel as if you were over-promised and under-delivered
• It’s effortless to find
• It’s incredibly affordable (scratch that, it’s downright cheap)
• You get it at lightning speed

Why should you avoid it?

There are many ethical, environmental, and logical reasons to avoid fast furniture. Let’s look at them:

Ethical and Environmental Reasons

Fast furniture is one of the biggest items in landfills at the moment. Americans alone dump 12 million tonnes of furniture a year — and this issue is a severe threat to global warming. Besides, it also brings concerns such as overconsumption to the table.

Another reason many people aren’t big on fast furniture is that it’s not ethically made or sourced. These items are usually made in sweatshops overseas, and the people creating them are paid an unfair wage for their work (this is also one of the reasons why fast furniture is so cheap).

Logical Reasons

We previously discussed how fast furniture is not made of suitable materials, so let’s zoom in on that discussion:

1. It’s made out of plastic.
   Fast furniture is often made out of plastic. There is low-quality wood in the mix, and plastic particles are involved in making fast furniture. This means that this furniture may not be recyclable. Aka, it can clog landfills forever, and it might release toxins if burned.
   
2. It has toxins
   Fast furniture often has a material called formaldehyde. One thing to know about formaldehyde is that it can cause serious health issues when you breathe it. There are other materials too, such as polyurethane foam, leather dye chemicals, etc., in the mix that are equally as harmful, if not more (mainly because the polyurethane foam and leather dye chemicals used by fast furniture companies do not meet the quality standards, and are hence toxic). If you get this furniture at home or your office (places you stay in for extended periods), you’re inflicting health problems on yourself.
   
3. It’s a short-term solution.
   If you bought fast furniture because you were looking to save an extra penny, then you’ll be unhappy to know that such kind of furniture is mostly not meant to last. Instead, it might give in within a year or two — maybe even sooner, depending on the materials it’s made of. So our advice would be to look at the lifetime economic value of the furniture as opposed to the one-time price.

How can Auraa Design help?

Auraa Design specialises in creating and selling high-quality yet competitively affordable furniture (we’re not cheap, we’re only budget conscious).

As a cherry on top, we also care about sustainability and can help you right from designing your furniture to installing your furniture.

All in all, we make the perfect furniture partner. So explore what we have to offer now.