At Retroloop, we believe that crafting a beautiful piece of furniture begins with empathy for the environment – that's why we take the time to hand-pick our materials with people and planet in mind. Our first piece, The Loop Sofa, is not just a place to rest after a long day or gather with friends on the weekends. It’s a promise that we are dedicated to choosing responsibly sourced and eco-friendly materials. In this piece, we’ll look at the raw materials that arrive at our multi-generational furniture manufacturer in North Carolina, ready to be transformed into a beautiful piece that represents our style and ethos. From the forest and pastures to your living room, each material tells a story of sustainability, durability, and harmony between nature and design.
Wood
Building the sofa begins with wood. Serving as the skeleton and feet of the sofa, our wood comes from a certified, family-owned and operated forest management company in the Appalachian Mountains, located under 100 miles from our manufacturing facility. The proximity of source to manufacturer minimizes the distance our wood travels (thereby reducing emissions) and ensures a smooth and timely supply of material. The wood is crafted by a state-of-the-art sawmill that optimizes each log and significantly reduces waste so that every tree is used to its full extent. Our supplier follows additional sustainable management practices, including new seedlings being replanted for every tree that is cut.
With all of this said, it’s important to also acknowledge the complexities of using wood as a material. Although our wood comes from a certified source, there are still inherent challenges in calling it sustainable. Wood certifications, while commendable, aren’t perfect – that's why we choose to source our wood from a local, trusted supplier to minimize the ecological impact.
Cocolok
Once the base of the sofa has been constructed, we use a blend of coconut fiber and natural latex (Cocolok) to create a seat deck. We selected this natural option as opposed to synthetic fibers, which are petroleum-based and often contain harmful chemicals that can negatively affect the health of people and pets. The use of synthetic fibers causes many negative effects to our environment, including energy-intensive manufacturing, high chemical content that pollutes watersheds, release of microplastics when washing, and extraction of fossil fuels. Furthermore, many synthetic fibers are non-biodegradable, resulting in poor recyclability and end-of-life challenges.
Recognizing these concerns, we decided to use natural coconut fibers made from the husk of the coconut. The food industry is the main consumer of coconuts as a raw material, collected from palms growing across the tropics. The problem is that it focuses on coconut meat (think products like coconut milk, oil, and cream) and tends to discard the fibers and husk as waste products. Rather than letting it go to waste, coconut fibers can be given new life as they are transformed into a usable, versatile, and renewable material. The coconut fibers are spun into ropes, then fashioned into sheets; as coconut fiber has a very high lignin content, these sheets are highly durable and barely deteriorate over time. Once the sheets are complete, they are sprayed with a natural latex (juice from the rubber tree) to provide elasticity and structural support, exactly what is needed to conform to the shape of our bodies. The natural latex we use is hypo-allergenic, anti-microbial, and dust-mite-resistant, allowing people with allergies to relax in peace.
Wool
As an additional layer of softness and comfort in all our sofas, we chose to use sheep wool. Our wool comes from the U.S. and is Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) certified, indicating the farms we source from maintain high standards for animal welfare and land management policies. These qualifications include the handling, nutrition, shearing, and medical treatments of the sheep, ensure that the grazing methods of the sheep are sustainable, and guarantee that the health and safety of workers are respected. The domestic sheep that provide the wool do not have the ability to naturally shed – if their fleece is not shorn, it will continue to grow, matting and weighing down the sheep and posing health risks for the animals.
Interestingly, sheep are more involved in the global carbon cycle than you may think. As they graze, they consume organic carbon stored in plants. This carbon is then incorporated into the proteins that make up the wool, and represents 50% of the weight of wool. Wool thus becomes a short-term store of natural carbon, and, when responsibly used, can reside in a beautiful piece of furniture rather than in our atmosphere. As a natural fiber, wool does not rely on petrochemicals and does not come with the previously discussed negative attributes of synthetic fibers. Sheep wool is biodegradable and has a lower carbon footprint than its synthetic alternatives, reducing its environmental impact. As a fire-resistant and hypo-allergenic material, customers can once again rest assured in the safety and comfort of their sofa.
Recycled Fabric
The fabric that we use to encapsulate all these building blocks is sourced from 100% post-consumer recycled plastics. These fabrics require 80% less energy, 49% less water, and 61% less CO2 to produce, and are made from 100% rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) bottles. Using recycled plastics diverts waste from landfills and oceans, helping to address the global crisis of plastic waste, and reduces the demand for new materials. The use of post-consumer plastic promotes a circular economy (where materials are recycled and reused rather than discarded) and reduces the need to extract additional resources. Furthermore, our fabric is OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 certified (free of substances that are harmful to humans and the environment) and Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certified – see our article on Certifications for more information.
Transformed into a luxurious dyed knitted velvet, our fabric is buttery soft to the touch and looks as beautiful up close as it looks from afar. In line with our other materials, the fabric is durable and built to last, and is very easy to clean with little maintenance.
At Retroloop, our commitment to making high quality, timeless furniture starts with the materials we choose. Our design philosophy and material selection centers around longevity, ensuring furniture stays in your home and out of the landfill. As each material finds its place in your living room, it represents our dedication to making your space healthier, more comfortable, and less of a burden on the environment.
For more information on our materials, please contact us at hi@shopretroloop.com. If we find that there are ways in which we could do better in our sourcing practices, we are always open to learning and will continue to grow with the needs of our planet and our customers.
