Why I Got Rid of My Sustainable Sabai Couch

As someone who values sustainability I’m not one who regularly gets rid of things. However, after two years I needed to part ways with my Sabai couch.

My husband and I purchased The Essential Sofa in Midnight upcycled polyester from Sabai back in 2022.

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I really wanted to love the Sabai couch I purchased as I’d been on the hunt for a sustainable sofa for quite some time.

 
sabai sofa midnight in living room
 

Sabai is a certified B corporation that creates American made furniture using recycled, upcycled, natural, non-toxic, and FSC-certified materials. 

Their products are made to order and they further their commitment to sustainability with their circular Repair Don’t Replace program and Revive buyback program.

Their eco-friendly furniture and company values checked all the boxes for me as far as ethics & sustainability. But when it came to comfort The Essential Sofa just wasn’t it for my personal preference. Even though it had all five star reviews...

The main reason we said goodbye to our Sabai sofa

We got rid of our Essential Sofa was due to the lack of comfort.

I personally prefer a couch you can sink into and cozy up in. Sabai’s Essential Sofa wasn’t it. The cushions were pretty firm and I thought they’d soften over time, but they never got to a cushy level.

And with the incredibly low back of the couch my husband and I found it really difficult to get comfortable on.

For reference I’m 5 foot 3 inches and you can see in the photo that a decent portion of my back is unable to be on the couch unless I were to really slouch down. So for anybody who is taller this would be even trickier.

The Pros of Sabai

The Essential Sofa did have some pros to it! For the two of us, this sofa was easy to put together and I did like the look. I also appreciated that the cushion covers came off for easy cleaning.

The up-cycled polyester fabric held up pretty well with our pets.

However, after sitting on it for two years we decided it was time to part ways and invest in something more comfortable. Thankfully Sabai has a buyback program called Sabai Revive which I was able to use when getting rid of our sofa.

 
 

My Experience with Sabai’s Revive Program

I had a truly great experience with Sabai’s Revive program. Through this program previous customers can resell their gently used Sabai furniture for either a store credit or percentage of the sale.

Sabai sends boxes and shipping labels for the furniture to be easily box up and shipped.

New customers are able to purchase the gently used furniture secondhand at a discounted rate.

I opted to take part in Sabai’s Revive program and had an excellent experience.

 
 

They were quick to communicate and had clear instructions. They scheduled a pick up and our furniture boxes were picked up in a timely manner, so we didn’t have to deal with loading them in the car or anything tricky. Then a few weeks later we received a check with the agreed upon percentage of the sale.

I do think this company has good values and I really love their focus on circularity. I wish I could have loved the couch.

Sabai has come out with other sofas….maybe these are more comfortable? I can’t say. For me personally, I won’t be ordering a sofa without sitting on it first.