BuyGreen: Office & Desk Chairs
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 11. 8.07
Anyone that sits at a desk or in a chair for part or all of their work knows that what you sit in really matters. Not only does it affect how comfortable and productive you are, but poor seating can have some pretty negative long-term health effects, limiting your ability to earn the green.
The chairs you'll find here are designed to help you feel better at work, not only providing relief to your arching back, but relieving some of the pressure your office puts on the environment. Choose from lots of colors and fabrics to fit your budget and style; since they've all been designed with sustainability in mind -- spanning the spectrum from infinitely adjustable to so smart that it adjusts to you -- each one can make a case for being the last task chair you'll ever have to buy. Hit the jump to start sitting pretty.
What: Think Chair by Steelcase
Where: store.steelcase.com
Why: The first product to ever receive Cradle-to-Cradle certification from MBDC is up to 99% recyclable, up to 44% recycled, and GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified.
How much: starting at $669
Nice touch: High wear parts like casters are replaceable, so one broken piece doesn't mean you have buy a whole new chair. Smart.
More: Steelcase and TreeHugger
What: Aeron Chair by Herman Miller
Where: sit4less.com and Design Within Reach
Why: This "Design of the Decade" Gold Winner in office furniture from the Industrial Designers Society of America and Business Week magazine is GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified and made of 62 percent recycled materials and is 94 percent recyclable.
How much: starting at $749
Nice touch: The originator of the ergonomic chair revolution is still one of the most enduring and functional designs of the past 20 years; it's a real classic.
More: Herman Miller and TreeHugger
What: Trey Chair
Where: treychair.com
Why: A multifunctional wonder that multifunction chair like no other that serves as a comfortable desk chair, but also a rocker with an extra seat for a friend, foot stool, laptop desk, or side table.
How much: starts at $239
Nice touch: A perfect solution for apartment living, you can even try it out for free for a week to see if this transformer is right for you.
More: Trey and TreeHugger
What: Mirra Chair by Herman Miller
Where: sit4less.com
Why: The Gold-level Cradle-to-Cradle certified chair is 96 percent recyclable, and the "Latitude" back upholstery is 100 percent recyclable
How much: starting at $599
Nice touch: Picking up where Aeron left off, Mirra employs "passive adjustability" that lets the chair do the hard work, adjusting to your needs without too many turning knobs or up-and-down levers.
More: Herman Miller and TreeHugger
What: Zody Chair by Haworth
Where: sit4less.com
Why: The first task chair to receive Gold Cradle-to-Cradle certification from MBDC is made from up to 50% recycled content, and Zody's assembly energy is offset with Green-e certified wind energy certificates.
How much: starting at $699
Nice touch: Zody is the first chair endorsed by the American Physical Therapy Association.
More: Haworth and TreeHugger
Honorable mentions:
- Herman Miller's Celle chair (here in TreeHugger)
- Baltix HAG ergonomic chair (here in TreeHugger)
Click on over to TreeHugger's How to Green Your Work guide for more tips on going green where you earn your green, and stay tuned for more guides for buying green for your office, your home and your life.
These are crazy expensive, who can afford a $600 chair?
I'm not really sure how buying a standard Herman Miller desk chair has become a green choice, or a sustainable choice. Is there anything about this chair's manufacturing process that is sustainable, or any different than it was prior to the "green" trend?
@Nicole,
When you have a sitting job, comfort is of the great importance. I have a fully loaded Aeron which I purchased 7 years ago for $1200 bucks.
@Dick,
A good quality chair is a "green" choice in a way because you don't throw it away after a year when it starts falling apart at the seams.
The Herman Miller is the only company I know of that gives a detailed Environmental Impact summary for all of their products:
http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Category/0,1564,a10-c651,00.html
Also, the Mira chair is designed to be cradle to cradle recyclable.
I do wish they were less expensive.
ok sure the simple fact is there not all 100% recyclable.
There outrages in price unless you make really good money or your rich. Tell you the simple fact is they should try to keep there prices down so they can sell more and help expand green products personally allot of company's try and use the green logo when there not doing any thing different. Except for claiming to be a green products company.
When it comes to buying things, I'm one of the cheapest people around, but $600 or $700 for a comfortable, well-designed chair you sit in for 8-10-12 hours a day, 5-6-7 days a week is actually quite a bargain. Your productivity is certainly going to be higher if you're comfortable, your health will be better if you're sitting in a chair that works ergonomically and your general mood is bound to be better when you're spending all day in a chair that actually works for you. For me, sitting in a large size Aeron chair is more comfortable than any other way I can possibly sit - better than a couch or Lazyboy, and certainly better than a cheap office chair...
Many moons ago I was fortunate enough to write into an employment contract that I could keep my Herman Miller chair once my contract/term was complete. I wheel it around my house depending on where I choose to park my laptop. It's the most comfortable chair in the house and given the 12 years of depreciation certainly the cheapest as well!
Very simply, office furniture is wicked expensive all around. The cheapest chair I have found was $180 and it was used and leaned to the left. Any business is accustomed to paying the high price for equipment and maybe now they will use their green in a green way. cheers
Very simply, office furniture is wicked expensive all around. The cheapest chair I have found was $180 and it was used and leaned to the left. Any business is accustomed to paying the high price for equipment and maybe now they will use their green in a green way. cheers
Oy! Where's the Humanscale Liberty? It's as expensive and green as the rest of those listed, and it's been thrashing all of them in comparison tests for the past year. It is designed from the ground up to be green (as much as these chairs can be), ergonomic and SIMPLE - the key to comfort that most of these ultra-adjustable miss. If I had a grad to drop on a chair, that's where I'd be putting it.
http://www.humanscale.com/products/liberty.cfm
Commercial office chairs must stand up to a lot of use, so they must be durable to be a good value. Office Max and IKEA can sell you something cheper, but it won't last more than a year or two in an office environment. If you factor in liability for poor ergonomics, these chairs can be a bargain, particularly for people who don't fit the standard mold. Most furniture is not designed for short women for example!
I agree, the Human Scale is top notch, and recommended by ergonomic consultants and therapists for providing good support and it also moves with you.
Humanscale is nice, but look at the Teknion Contessa chair. GREENGAURD certified, 85% recyclable material. By far the most comfortable over Aeron, Life, Leap,
http://www.teknion.com/products/seating_contessa/default.asp?country=us
As far as manufacturing companies go, they are one of the "greenest" in the bunch:
http://www.teknion.com/about-teknion/environment/default.asp
"The bitterness of poor quality far outlasts the
All of these are really good chairs, but I have not heard anyone give any feed back on the Zody chair. I just got one and it is AWESOME. This chair is green and the only one that is endorsed by the American Physical Association. Take a look at Haworth's new corporate offices, it is a LEED certified gold building.
I sit in an office chair for at least 8 hours a day, and I don't agree with the sentiments that a $600 chair is worth the purchase. Although IKEA and Office Depot make cheaper chairs, I find them to work just find. They are comfortable and have lasted me several years. Truth be told, I have not tried out the chairs listed here, but I would much rather give the difference to charity or buying offsets.
I've just completed and published my own research inspired by this article and was surprised by the inclusion of the Think Chair by Steelcase, and no mention of their Amia chair.
Through doing the additional research I have decided my next office chair will be a Zody.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Alot of these chairs are available from Ebay for less than their retail price. Case in Point, I recently purchased an Aeron Chair (selling for $979 on Design Within Reach) for $350. It came from a bank branch that was closing. The chair is basically new. Likewise you can find them all for a fraction of what they sell for. You just have to look around a little.
It nice that Green Products are becoming more available. There is a company in Boulder Colorado that also offers Green Desk, they are Kare Products. And the best part is they are all height adjustable. After all taking care of the environment means also taking care of the person using these chairs and desks. We you are looking office furniture remember some basic ergonomic principals like make everything as adjustable as possible. That way you have a much better chance of a proper fit. Here is their web site www.KareProducts.com
The reason nobody is going green is because people can not afford to do so....
600 bucks for a chair? what!?!?
never going to happen.
Living green, and getting advanced degrees, provides me with $879/mo salary. $600?? That's twice RENT!
Who can afford this stuff, and why do we endorse such expensive eco-alternatives. It's puts the product off the map for many of us.
This is much like the Z-bar desk lamps from a few days ago. 45 cents worth of electrical components. $1 worth of metal... then what? $250.00 worth of labour and sundry charges?
As comfy as these above chairs might be. I know, I've sat in one. They are impressive. But if I have to be rich to be green. I feel let down that I can't afford to, just because I can't sit in one of these chairs.
In the mean time, my recycled beanbag does me just fine.
I've worked in offices that had Ikea chairs and I've worked in offices with HM Aeron chairs - there is a huge difference in comfortability (and productivity!) and worth the price.
When I can absolutely no longer stand my current chair, I plan to buy a Mirra. Why a Mirra? Its my concession to the price of an Aeron!
I have to say, I am shocked that so many people here on commenting only on the upfront price and not looking at what I see as the bigger picture. Surely, most "green" options available to us today do not make much sense at a price only level?
The Aeron chairs I've seen and used are abused in offices and still last many years and on top of that provide a level of ergonomics I've not seen reproduced by less expensive chairs.
For the people who are whining about the price, you could easily buy a cheap chair built in China or more likely Vietnam these days but remember that's what has gotten us in the mess in the first place.
The cheapest product on the shelf is full of compromises to get that price. Cheap materials, knocked-off design and engineering, rock bottom labor, etc.
All of that costs money, people are just too spoiled with low prices.
While the most expensive item is not always the best, a well build ergo chair from a company that is actually trying to do something about the mess we are in, for $600 is CHEAP. Buy it once and give it to your kids when you die.