In my previous blog, “The New Language of Sustainability in Business,” I explored how sustainability is increasingly being connected to business value. Companies still care about environmental outcomes, but they are also asking harder questions about cost, efficiency and measurable results.

The commercial furniture industry is adapting to that same business environment.

Businesses are consolidating offices, reassessing their space needs and reconfiguring more frequently. That is creating a challenge for an industry historically built around mass production and new sales. But it may also accelerate a shift toward a more circular model.

Instead of simply selling more furniture, what if the industry gets more value from furniture over its lifetime?

Research commissioned by Installnet and conducted by Bard College’s Graduate Programs in Sustainability found evidence of this shift in how the industry talks about used furniture. Companies including Installnet, Rheaply and Reseat increasingly describe used furniture as “assets” or “surplus assets.” 

It’s an important distinction. Furniture may no longer be needed by one company, but it can still have value. We need to ask: Can it be repaired, refurbished, or reconfigured? Can preowned furniture become a larger part of the commercial market?

Industry insiders are asking: “Can leasing and certified preowned models create new opportunities, much as they have in the automotive industry?”

Some dealers are already embracing that mindset. The bigger opportunity may be for manufacturers to build reuse, flexibility, and recommissioning into their business models and products from the start.

Other pressures are pushing the industry in the same direction. Regulations and reporting requirements aren’t going away. Companies increasingly want to understand where products and materials come from, what they’re made of and where they ultimately go. Material chemistry and embodied carbon are becoming part of that conversation.

The economics of disposal are changing, too. To stay ahead of those changes and better support our customers, we surveyed our service provider network about the conditions they are seeing in their local markets. In places such as Nashville, where landfill capacity is tightening and hauling distances are increasing, traditional disposal can take more time and cost more. 

That can make recommissioning furniture to new users a practical business alternative as well as an environmental one. When usable furniture can go to local nonprofits, schools, first responders or other community organizations, companies can potentially reduce costs while creating a real local benefit.

Better measurement will also be important. Customers increasingly want more sustainability data. But different providers may calculate or report those outcomes differently, making apples-to-apples comparisons difficult. The industry needs to develop clearer standards and metrics that help companies understand their options and make better business decisions.

At Installnet, we are working with sustainability leaders to identify more consistent measurement approaches. For example, we partnered with Arcadis to explore how decommissioning metrics can support broader global reporting. MillerKnoll is exploring expansion of its rePurpose program internationally, creating opportunities for more consistent practices and metrics across markets.

Taken together, these changes point to an industry adapting to a new business reality. As companies use less space, demand greater flexibility, and scrutinize costs, the traditional model of mass production and replacement is under pressure.

Circularity offers another path: Gain more value from the furniture that already exists and design new furniture to last, adapt, and serve multiple users over its lifetime.

Sustainability may be helping drive that shift, but the business case is too.