Furniture, Sustainable Furniture
Sustainable sofa upholstery
When we are about to buy a sofa for our home, we usually have a lot of doubts about whether we are choosing the right model for our needs. Although there are factors that condition us such as style, colour, shape or design, one of the most important factors we should look at is the type of padding used in the sofas.
Nowadays there are different types of padding for sustainable sofas but not all of them are equally comfortable or have suitable compositions. That’s why at Pau, your sustainable furniture manufacturer, we show you how to choose the best sofa upholstery and what types of padding are currently available.
Sofa upholstery, how to choose the best one?
As mentioned above, there is no point in having the best sustainable sofa model on the market if it is not comfortable enough when it comes to watching TV or relaxing.
Comfort is something fundamental in a product such as sofas, as they are one of the pieces of furniture in our home that we use the most and where we spend the most time. For this reason it is very important to know how to choose the best padding for your sofa. Some of the aspects to look out for when choosing sustainable sofa upholstery are:
Filler quality
There are sofas with a basic and simple foam that is cheaper economically but in the long run it is more expensive because it quickly loses its density and gives the sensation of sitting on a board. Therefore, to ensure good quality and resistance to weight, it is necessary to choose a high-strength filling.
Seat firmness and density
The seats of the sofa must support a certain amount of weight, so it is very important that they have a firmness and density suitable for the use they are going to be given. In this case, it must be taken into account that the density and firmness of the seats must be greater than that of the backrest, because they need to withstand a greater amount of weight on a daily basis.
Comfort and aesthetics
To make the seat much more comfortable and to improve the seating sensation, a viscoelastic layer can be added, for example. If you want to improve the aesthetics and make the seats look more rounded, you can add a fibre layer that visually improves the aesthetics of the product.
Types of sofa upholstery
It is important to bear in mind that depending on the composition of the filling of the sofa, it will be more comfortable and resistant or will adapt better to your body when you sit on it.
Here we tell you about the types of sustainable sofa upholstery that you can find on the market:
Fibre
The fibre filling is usually made of polyester, a very economical and comfortable material that you can find in various densities. In turn, there are two types of fibre: blown fibre, which offers a super soft sitting sensation; and pocket fibre, which is spongier to sit on.
This type of filling requires a little more maintenance than foam in order to maintain its appearance and is usually used more in the backrest and armrests. On the other hand, fibre filling is recommended for people who are allergic to feathers.
Foam
The main advantage of foam is that it provides firm support and retains its shape despite use, which is why it is one of the most common sofa fillings.
Foam padding comes in a variety of different densities. Thus, high-density foam provides a firm sitting position that can sometimes be too uncomfortable due to its firmness. Low-density foam has a medium or soft firmness and degrades faster than high-density foam, In the case of HR foam or high-density foam, these are the most resistant to wear and tear and sagging, lasting more than 10 years.
Silicone fleece
Silicone fleece is a hollow, siliconised polyester fibre filling. This material stands out of being quite soft and with a quick recovery of its original shape after use. Due to its characteristics, this filling is perfect for the backs of sofas and is not recommended for hot places because it loses consistency.
Synthetic
Over the years, synthetic padding has been gaining ground thanks to its comfort, the fact that it is very soft, does not deform, is waterproof and has anti-allergenic properties. Some of the most commonly used synthetic fillings are soft fibre and latex.
Feather
Feather is one of the most commonly used fillings for sofas, thanks to its comfort and softness, although it is also one of the most expensive fillings. Duck or goose feathers are usually used for backrests, although they can also be used in cushions and armrests.
Although their qualities offer a better sleeping experience, feather fillings also require more specific maintenance. For example they are not waterproof and do not resist liquid spills, so one of the best solutions is to use waterproof covers of fabrics.
[Find out what kind of fillings you can choose for a sustainable sofa]
Pau, sofás with sustainable filings
If there is one thing we value above all else at Pau, it is sustainability and respect for the environment. That is why, when it comes to choosing fillings for our sofas, we choose to partially use feather, a by-product of the food industry that we are giving a second life to.
The feather is an ecological product that respects the planet because, if it were not used, it would have to be destroyed with the consequent environmental and polluting cost that this entails. What we do at Pau is to reuse this organic and natural material to achieve extraordinary comfort, without contributing to global warming.
A clear example of sofas with sustainable fillings are:
Baltic Feather sofa
If there is one thing that stands out about the modular Baltic Feather, designed by Guillermo Torrent, it is its comfort and convenience, ensuring a totally pleasant rest thanks to the new “Feather” seat.
The cushion is composed of a polyurethane HR foam interior sandwich with 100% compartmentalised feather, reaching the highest quality in a soft and comfortable cushion with great resistance.
Uppsala sofa
With the Uppsala sofa, proportion and contrast have been sought in a single piece. It has an extremely “soft” seat that seeks absolute comfort to ensure the best rest.
It is filled with high-density HR foam rubber, rubber straps and recycled springs.
It also has fully removable covers and the 100% natural linen and cotton fabrics are part of the Pau Fabric collection.
At Pau we make sure that each and every one of our products is as sustainable as possible.
That is why we value above all the use of environmentally friendly materials in the manufacturing process by using wood from sustainable domestic forests or by promoting the use of renewable energy with the installation of more than 100 solar panels in our facilities.
If you want to know more about our working model or discover in depth the catalogue of available products, do not hesitate to visit our website.
