Conscious Chic
The art of upcycling furniture in a fast-fashion world.
During my four years at college, I relocated to a new home at the beginning of each school year. My freshman year, I was in the dorms. I lived in an apartment my sophomore year. I spent my junior year abroad, and this year I’m in an adorable, tiny house. With each new place came new memories, roommates, and furniture. While getting new furniture can be exciting, the prices can add up. Like many college kids running on a tight budget, I’ve opted for easier and cheaper furniture options such as Target or Amazon for many years. Unfortunately, the cheaper price often equates to cheaper quality furniture that doesn’t survive the move and needs to be replaced the following year. These corporate businesses have contributed to a new epidemic in consumer society much like fast fashion. It’s called fast furniture.
Fast fashion is inexpensive clothing items produced in large quantities by mass-market retailers. It has been on our radar for some time. Buying clothes from fast fashion brands like Shein can result in the need to replace the items due to their poor quality. Fast fashion also raises concerns about environmental impacts–greenhouse gas emissions, toxic dyes, and heavy metals used in manufacturing–and contributions to deforestation in the Amazon. Another concern raised is ethical sourcing. The true cost of fast fashion lies in the less-than-a-living wage factory workers are making as they mass produce the clothes. Fast fashion also results in 40 million tons of garments ending up in landfills each year. After learning these horrific facts, I made a great effort to source my clothes from second-hand stores, clothing swaps, local businesses, or upcycled creations.
All too ironically, I’m writing this article from a desk I bought for cheap from Target that is not likely to survive another year. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans threw out over 12 million tons of furniture and furnishings in 2018 alone, 80% of which ended up in landfills. Fast furniture are items that are made quickly and with poor construction which makes them difficult to repair or refurbish. They only last a few years until they need to be tossed.
But the fact that most fast furniture ends up in landfills isn’t the only concern. The increase in demand for low-cost materials, such as laminate or other synthetic materials designed to look like wood, can contribute to issues of deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Also, continuously buying furniture and having it shipped to you can increase the amount of CO2 emissions when transporting.
While there are plenty of ways to look into a company’s sustainability practices (or lack thereof), those options can come at a higher cost. Let’s face it, we don’t all have the means to pick up a new bed from stores like West Elm. Luckily, there are still plenty of options for buying less expensive, yet higher-quality furniture which can help cut back on environmental and ethical impacts while still leaving your living spaces looking fantastic and functional. The age-old saying is true: one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. To prove it, I’m also writing this article while sitting on a chair I picked up from the University of Oregon’s surplus sale for a whopping six dollars.
The story with this chair is what you might consider a furniture meet-cute. My roommate and I walked into the warehouse filled with furniture lightly organized by item type. Like a puppy in a litter, my dear chair was found sitting with look-alikes just begging to be taken home. Its gray fabric was slightly grayer than the others, and its metal legs shone just a little bit brighter. I felt a slight ping of nostalgia for the years I spent in my mom’s office, sitting on a chair that looked just like this one. My roommate scored a dresser that we both recognized from the dorms, which we promptly struggled to haul into the back of her car. She ended up buying vintage maps of her favorite mountains to revamp the top of the dresser.
Local thrift stores, Craigslist, Nextdoor, or resale furniture warehouses are all great places to buy used furniture (plus you get the benefit of socializing with actual human beings, some of whom could be the internet's finest randos). This year my roommate and I decorated our living room with a tiny purple couch we found on Facebook Marketplace. During this exchange, the vendor brought his young son, whom I convinced to race around our yard while I timed how fast he could run. I also spent a great deal of time playing hide and seek with him as my roommate frantically attempted to download CashApp. In addition to our couch, we also filled our kitchen with various plates and bowls we found in thrift stores. This was a fun way to add character to our home while saving us a lot of money during our move.
In the same spirit of upcycling clothes you pick up from the thrift store, you can do the same to furniture you buy used or pick up on the side of the road. Get in touch with your inner artist, and save a dollar or fifty while you’re at it. Some of the ways you can upcycle furniture include replacing parts such as handles or adding your own touch with paint or fabrics (you have to cover up mysterious stains somehow, right? Kidding…. Hopefully).
If you’re looking to turn upcycling into more of an activity, perhaps host a housewarming party where your guests help you revamp your new furniture. The world is your oyster, and who knows, maybe that dresser on the street corner would look better in pink.
