The birth, life, death, and afterlife of the sofa

The living room is where guests convene and family members relax over leisurely conversation and maybe the occasional binge-watch—and the sofa is the centerpiece of it all.

With Americans throwing out millions of tons of furniture annually, what happens to those pieces—and the materials they're made from—when they're no longer an aesthetic focal point of our homes is just as important as when we first chose them.

Perhaps no other piece of living room furniture gets as much attention as the sofa—and there are many things to consider when purchasing a new one. According to the website How Products Are Made, couches can take 300 to 600 hours for skilled workers to make, though machines have made the process a little bit faster.

Made Trade explored the sofa's life cycle, from its beginnings to its journey after the living room, using various internet sources, including The New York Times, Architectural Digest, and more.

Complex beginnings

The sofa's construction includes many materials, including the wood for the frame and the metal for the springs. Webbing, which influences the sofa's suspension, can be made from natural materials like jute or synthetic materials. Padding—the sofa's insides—is usually made of four materials: foam, feathers, batting, polyester, or any combination of these items. Finally, the sofa's covering can be made of any number of fabrics, but they are usually crafted with leather, corduroy, or linen.

The fusing of these various materials plays a significant part in a sofa's longevity, but it may cost customers more if they want their furnishings to last longer. Kayel De Angelis, who was a third-generation member of his family's furniture firm, explained to The New York Times in a deep dive into the couch that custom or high-end sofas, the frames of which are generally made of hardwood like ash or maple, usually hold together much better than budget couches made of plywood.

What's inside the couch matters as well. Low-density foam is more affordable, but a sofa using springs wrapped in down can provide softness and support for longer, according to Hunker.

The story behind the price tag

What a sofa is made from, how it's crafted, and how it gets to consumers is often determined by brands and the company's internal calculus of profit versus consumer budget. Materials are only part of the equation when it comes to how much sofas cost. Labor and transportation also come into play when it's time to pay.

It wasn't too long ago that furniture was seen as a lifetime investment and a rare purchase that required a lot of consideration and shopping around. But now, a new couch can be picked out online in minutes and grace a living room in just a few days, partly thanks to globalization. Places like North Carolina, Michigan, and New England were once centers of furniture manufacturing, but U.S.-China trade agreements coupled with lower wages in China helped push down furniture prices and set buyer expectations.

By 2009, available jobs in North Carolina's furniture industry had halved compared to the previous decade, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Ironically, it was American manufacturers who helped build the furnishing industry in Asia. They built factories in countries like Taiwan and the Philippines, thinking they could lower labor costs while still reaping benefits.

Reducing costs is another reason brands prefer lightweight materials such as particle board over heavier natural woods. Particle board is relatively inexpensive and cost-effective to transport thanks to its weight. However, even the lightest materials can't offset the increased carbon footprint of traveling long distances from factories to living rooms: United Nations Trade and Development reports that ocean freight accounts for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Once a sofa makes its way to the retailer, shoppers are faced with a key decision: which sofa to buy and at what price. Depending on one's budget, sofas can cost a few hundred dollars or thousands of dollars. Roche Bobois' hand-manufactured Bubble 2 curved sofa is priced at $7,460. Some sofas fall in between, like Nate Berkus' and Jeremiah Brent's Art Deco-inspired Audrey sofa for Living Spaces, which costs $1,295.

This wide price range and rising financial insecurity in some American households have left the market open to fast furniture, which is mass-produced and much cheaper, just like its fashion counterparts. Because of more inexpensive materials and less thoughtful production processes, the lifespans of these couches are significantly shorter.

Making (and living with) choices

No matter the price range, couch owners will inevitably make the most of this crucial piece of furniture. They will sit, lounge, read—even sleep on it—and invite their guests to do the same. Generally, people expect sofas to last between seven and 15 years, but the reality could be an average of just six years, according to a OnePoll survey for Rove Concepts of 2,000 Americans conducted in 2019. The same poll also found that 3 in 10 Americans were ready to move on from their current couch.

Deana McDonagh, a professor of industrial design at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, told The New York Times that many fast furniture pieces bought during COVID-19 were "designed to last about five years." This lifespan means newer furniture makes it to the dumpster faster, sustainability expert and author Ashlee Piper told Architectural Digest. Piper added that this kind of furniture usually gets thrown away because it is easier and cheaper to buy a new one than replace a damaged part.

The end of the line and maybe a new beginning

When couch owners are ready to make a change, there are a number of ways the sofa can leave the living room. Some couches might earn owners a few dollars, while others may require spending money for removal.

Reselling a couch can help offset the cost of a new one. Secondhand furniture marketplaces (both online and brick-and-mortar stores) connect owners with those looking to add a new piece to their living room, often offering a mix from well-known manufacturers and national chains to lesser-known boutique brands. Craiglist, Facebook Marketplace, and Etsy are still popular places where customers look for secondhand couches as well.

Some smaller brands have made it their mission to be more sustainable and extend the life cycles of couches by encouraging customers to give them new homes. Sabai, for example, has a buyback program where you can get paid for up to 25% of the resale price. They also allow customers to buy specific parts of a couch—like a seat cushion or couch legs—so owners don't have to get rid of the whole sofa. Think of it as couch surgery.

Donating to secondhand stores doesn't cost a penny. Goodwill has been an easy go-to, but as of November 2021, some Goodwill branches have declined to accept couch donations. Places like the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity also accept furniture.

Some cities have even started finding ways to donate furniture to those in need. Philadelphia started a "furniture bank" that furnished nearly 1,400 homes in 2022 by donating beds, mattresses, and sofas.

Junk removal services, on the other hand, mean money out of a couch owner's pocket. Some, like Junkluggers, are committed to sustainability. Junkluggers bring trucks the size of traditional dump trucks to customers to dispose of the items they no longer need. General manager Zach Kirkpatrick of the Williamsburg, Virginia, Junkluggers branch told Williamsburg Yorktown Daily in a radio interview that they partner with multiple donation centers in the local area, including Habitat for Humanity.

The last resort for an irreparable couch that can't find a new home is a landfill. The Environmental Protection Agency found that Americans throw out more than 12 million tons of furniture, which has resulted in a lot of solid waste, which has grown more than 450% since 1960. Depending on the materials, Canadian Mattress Recycling claims a couch could take anywhere from 60 to 80 years to decompose in a landfill since metal springs and wooden frames take a bit of time to wear out in nature.

From conception to being in someone's living room for years to finally making it to a secondhand shop or landfill, couches have a much longer existence than people realize. Their long life, especially in the landfill, is a large part of why buying a couch is a more significant decision than it may seem.

Story editing by Carren Jao. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn.