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Shopping guide to furniture and furniture shops

Image: two chairs furniture and a table
Alex Crumbie
By
Alex Crumbie

Our new guide to Furniture Shops ranks the biggest brands in the market, alongside some of the lesser-known but supposedly more sustainable ones.

It examines how sustainable UK furniture shops are and presents a trial version of Ethical Consumer’s new scoring system.

For some time, a team of our researchers has been developing a new rating system, which we are presenting here for the first time.

We believe that it has significant advantages to the old system but would love to know what you think to make sure that we are heading in the right direction.

View the new guide to furniture shops as a PDF

 

Part of the magazine ratings table

In our current scoring system:

  • companies start on a score of 14
  • the maximum score is 20
  • marks are subtracted for bad practice
  • there is 1 positive ‘Company Ethos’ mark available for good practice and up to 5 possible Product Sustainability marks, which focus specifically on the product rather than the wider company

 

Under the new trial system used for this guide:

  • companies start at 0
  • the total score is out of 100, which allows for greater nuance and is easily understandable
  • marks are gained for good policy or practice but can also be lost if we find reports of bad practice

There is more explanation on this new scoring system at the end of the PDF

You can also view a pdf of the detailed stories per brand/company which are usually available as clickable links in the score table online.

Looking to buy secondhand furniture?

Our article on buying secondhand furniture outlines a number of options for you, as well as repair and recycling information. 

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