By 2022, the furniture demand in the United States will reach $68.8 billion. Think about what the impact would be if most of that were locally-made American furniture furniture.
Considering Americans discard 12 million tons of furniture every single year, it’s pretty massive—not even to speak of all the emissions reductions from shorter shipping. If more people opted for not just eco friendly furniture, but domestic furniture, it would support both the local economy (by creating meaningful jobs) and also the planet.
Not to mention the fact that quality handcrafted American furniture is hard to beat.
But don’t think choosing local means sacrificing selection or variety. You can furnish your home ten times over using this list.
We did our best to make this as prefabricated as possible for you, but if you don’t mind a little “assembly required”, you can read up on our new Brand Rating System. We haven’t deployed it yet, but will be using in the upcoming future to reassess this and all our artcies across 22 impact criteria you can learn about here.
We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.
Shop Local For The Best American Made Furniture
Floyd’s American made wooden furniture uses top-quality, low offgassing materials to give your home a minimalist Scandi vibe. Not only are their pieces made in the USA, but some of their wood is grown there, too.
And Brandon Built’s furniture means so much more—like support for school children or single parents.
Index: American Furniture Brands
- Floyd Jump to brand
- Brandon Built Jump to brand
- Reclaimed Wood USA Jump to brand
- What WE Make Jump to brand
- Emeco Jump to brand
Floyd
About Floyd
If any city understands and values the importance of American labor and engineering, it’s Detroit. Floyd is one such “Detroit company that wants to get away from disposable furniture.”
While not all Floyd furniture is made in the USA, most pieces are. They keep their offerings simple: a bed frame, mattress, sofa, chaise, dining table, side table, coffee table, standing desk, and a few storage and shelving systems.
Floyd’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
When you furnish with Floyd, you’ll be bringing these materials into your home: Steel (for its durability and recyclability), natural linoleum sourced from the Netherlands (made from wood, rosins, cork, limestone, jute, and linseed oil—not vinyl), Baltic birch, and FSC-certified American-grown walnut.
They avoid flame retardants and only work with wood and foam components that aren’t associated with dangerous levels of off-gassing and VOC emissions. Many of the pieces meet CARB II and TSCA Title VI Certifications, some of the highest anti-formaldehyde standards around.
Supply chain & labor practices:
All of the products in Michigan are then manufactured in either the United States, Mexico, or China. They don’t specify where each piece is made, so we’ll contact them to learn more.
Regardless, they only partner with factories that share the same environmentally and socially responsible values.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Their Full Cycle program extends the life span of their products by offering to service furniture and recycle it responsibly when repairs are no longer an option. It’s currently only available in California, however.
In fact, everything is designed with easy-to-service components, making it simple to make small repairs/replacements, rather than discarding the entire piece.
You can also shop for imperfect Floyd products, keeping them out of the landfill and saving up to 50% for doing so.
By 2025, 70% of their materials will come from recycled or renewable sources (including 100% FSC certified wood). By then, they will have also eliminated single-use plastics and will disclose a greenhouse gas emissions report.
Brandon Built
About Brandon Built
Based in Kearney, Nebraska, Brandon Built started as a joke. Three friends were discussing their passion for building home furniture and laughing at the thought of someone actually being interested in their own creations. The next day, one of them surprised the others by announcing an Etsy shop had been established.
No one is laughing now, but there are plenty of smiles, from the 7000+ customers who have given the shop 5-stars and the vast number of beneficiaries from Brandon Built’s not-for-profit business model.
Jokes aside, they’re truly a star, with four items earning a place on Etsy’s prestigious best sellers list. Shop bookshelves, bar carts, bar stools, blanket ladders, clothing racks, coffee tables, end/side tables, shelving, TV stands, and more.
Brandon Built’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
The American made solid wood furniture is made with reclaimed wood or solid pine, sourced from an FSC certified supplier.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Two of the friends are still involved with the business and the USA based woodworking that comes with it.
Community & charitable giving:
From day one, Brandon Built has focused on supporting their local community. Any profits made go towards supporting locals who “are hungry, sick, homeless, or just needing a little good in their lives.” From single parents to school children, the shop has donated diapers, hygiene products, clothing, shoes, school lunches, car batteries, holiday meals, YMCA memberships, and more.
They currently have a project called “Building a Better Tomorrow Fund,” which supports special needs elementary schools.
Reclaimed Wood USA
About Reclaimed Wood USA
Reclaimed Wood USA ticks all the boxes. At 28,000 sales (and growing) with an average five-star review on Etsy, we’re clearly not the only ones who think so.
Because they proudly use reclaimed wood to create beautiful solid wood American made furniture—from small shelves to big fireplace mantles—you won’t get any Ikea-esque pieces. Instead, they’ll adorn your home with rich, unique, and rustic made heirloom pieces designed for generation after generation.
Reclaimed Wood USA’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
This shop uses reclaimed wood and metal, most of which comes from the construction sites and wreckage caused by Gulf Coast hurricanes. All are finished with 100% eco-friendly water based stains and lacquers.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Reclaimed Wood USA works strictly with US-based designers. All handmade in their woodworking and metal fabrication studio.
Community & charitable giving:
The family-owned furniture shop is committed to giving back by supporting Mississippians following the devastating impacts of hurricanes.
What WE Make
About What WE Make
What WE Make (AKA wwmake) is a family-owned and operated brand hailing from Chicago with 15+ eyars of experience. In the past five years, they’ve shifted focus entirely on reclaimed materials.
Using the old to create a whole new look, they offer American made living room furniture, dining room furniture, bedroom furniture, and more. Specific pieces include dining tables, benches, coffee tables, end/accent tables, console tables, bathroom vanities, chairs and stools, buffets, bookcases, storage pieces, media consoles, and eco-friendly desks.
What WE Make’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
What WE Make uses reclaimed old-growth wood, sustainably sourced Midwest walnut and white oak, hand-welded metal, and durable, special-blend concrete. All old-growth wood is harvested from midwestern barns and is at least a century old. It features one-of-a-kind variations with naturally-occurring splits, weathering, knots, cracks, and nail holes.
Pieces are finished with no or low-VOC eco-friendly finishings – far fewer toxins than traditional furniture.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Each family member is responsible for a different aspect What WE Make. All woodworking is done by hand by brothers Dan and George Quinn in their Algonquin, IL workshop.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
All items are made-to-order, which both minimizes their carbon footprint and means they don’t need to have a warehouse storing stock. To reduce waste even further, they donate woods scarps and sawdust locally for farming and fires.
Emeco
About Emeco
What do Coca-Cola and Emeco have in common? A plastic bottle! Well, 111 plastic bottles, to be exact. A partnership between the two brands has given way to the 111 Navy Chair—which is made from 111 plastic bottles and can be 100% recycled.
For modern American made furniture, Emeco is ironically taking it back to 1944, when the salvaged aluminum Emeco 1006 Navy Chair was first created for warships and sailors. Almost 80 years later, those same chairs are found in offices, hotels, and restaurants around the world.
Chairs are still the brand’s forte, although they now also have stools, tables, shelves, benches, sustainable outdoor furniture, and upholstered furniture. Not to mention a host of accessories and replacement parts to keep this American made furniture lasting a long time.
Emeco’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Recycled aluminum (80%) is what’s found in their modern version of the Navy Chair. They also use recycled PET (from plastic bottles), local and FSC-certified or reclaimed wood, cork, eco-concrete (made from recycled glass bottles), and reclaimed wood polypropylene (WPP), which is leftover bits from plastic factories combined with discarded sawdust and wood from lumber yards. It yields a speckled look and natural easy-to-wipe feel that’s effective for high use and harsh environments.
Most pieces are finished with a no-or low-VOC sealer to make them stand the test of time.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Emeco prides itself on making furniture in America, often by hand. They partner with Amish communities in Pennsylvania and also have their own Pennsylvanian factory—which is the same one that produced the iconic chairs back in 1944.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
When it comes to their aluminum chairs, they’re made in a 77-step process so that these chairs will truly last forever (or at least 150 years). After all, Emeco’s guiding principle is that if you “make something well, it can survive anything.”
They also have an impressive environmental statement, which elaborates on how they reduce water and electricity consumption.
Heather earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition from the The Ohio State University before completing a Masters in Environment at The University of Melbourne. She then went on to achieve a Permaculture Design Certificate at the Djanbung Gardens. Heather feels best when she is barefoot in a forest or has dirt under her fingernails. She’s constantly daydreaming about her homesteading future and has a rapidly-growing list of the best local (and not-so-local) hiking trails. When she’s not busy hoarding an embarrassing number of upcycled glass jars, experimenting with urban composting, or quelling her eco-anxiety on a long run, Heather spends her 9-5 working for a sustainable agriculture nonprofit, where she advocates for state and federal policies that support thriving farmers and a habitable future.
