We often don’t think about where our furniture comes is made. It’s just so easy to go to Ikea or order from Wayfair. We often see articles discussing the environmental or social impacts of buying furniture from abroad, but most don’t know that we have a choice. One of the best-kept secrets in Canada is that we have a leading furniture manufacturing industry. Let’s take a look at some of the top furniture brands made in Canada and see what Canadian-made piece of furniture you might have in your home next.
Why is furniture Made in Canada?
Canada is often seen as an expensive place to do business and not the first choice for manufacturers to set up a factory. While that can be true, Canada is ideal when it comes to furniture in many ways.
One of the most significant factors contributing to Canada’s furniture industry is that furniture pieces are large and expensive to ship and transport. It’s a lot more cost-effective to make them here than import them overseas. Canada also has world-class designers, textile mills, quality woods, and skilled craftspeople - all invaluable in furniture manufacture. Pair that with solid demand from major urban centres, and you have the perfect environment for the burgeoning furniture industry.
Furniture manufacturing is so important to the Canadian economy that recently, the Canadian government introduced import duties on foreign-produced imports of up to 204%. This makes the prices of foreign-produced furniture comparable to Canadian-made goods, allowing the higher labour costs in Canada to compete with those of developing countries.
Why is Canadian furniture better?
Customizable
Most Canadian furniture companies allow an array of custom options. From wood type to fabric, you can design a piece that fits your home.
Sustainability
- Materials - Canadian furniture manufacturers have access to sustainable Canadian raw materials. Forestry in Canada is carefully regulated to keep the environment and sustainability in mind. Timber supplies in other parts of the world can often come from endangered ecosystems and logging practices that target sensitive species.
- Energy - Few manufacturing practices have low energy intensity. Many critical manufacturing hubs worldwide rely predominantly on fossil-fuel energy to power their factories. The vast majority of Canadian electricity comes from non-emitting sources such as hydro-electric and nuclear
- Labour Standards - Unlike their foreign counterparts, Canadian furniture manufacturers must follow provincial labour standards. This includes high hourly wages, working condition standards, and regulated working hours. In recent years fast furniture sellers have come under fire for using contractors with exploitative labour practices.
- Transportation - Often overlooked, transportation is one of the most emitting parts of a product’s life cycle. A couch going from Vancouver to Toronto goes about ⅓ the distance than the same couch going from China to Vancouver. Rail transportation is also the most fuel-efficient means of mass cargo transportation.
So, where do you get Canadia Made furniture?
It’s a bit easier than you think. If you look around you, you’ll likely find that there are plenty of small furniture workshops all around you. In the countryside of most of the country, you’ll find communities of Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites that produce beautiful handcrafted wooden furniture for a very reasonable price. Most of them don’t sell online, though, so it takes a bit of looking.
If you want something a bit more contemporary, though, several exceptional producers across the country. Lets take a look at a few of them,
Manufactured in Burnaby, BC, Stylus has been making custom couches since the 1950s. While their Leather options are made overseas, their fabric-covered couches and sofas are 100% made in Canada. When you purchase from Stylus, you get to choose between fabric types, couch styles, and more. Stylus only sells through furniture stores and designers, so you’ll need to find a provider who specializes in their products.
Stylus is a superb option for a truly made in Canada couch with two factories and a committed customer base.
With a home base in Winnipeg, Manitoba, EQ3 is well-positioned to draw from the best of Canada in its furniture design and manufacturing. While not all their products are made domestically, a substantial proportion is. In particular, their upholstered couches, chairs, and beds. All their upholstered products are made in the same building they are designed. This allows a high degree of customizability. You can choose from all kinds of options, including leg type, fabric or leather, type of fabric or leather, and course size.
EQ3 also pays special attention to the sustainability of its products. By manufacturing most of their upholstered products, they can order only what they need when they need it. This massively contributes to overall waste reduction - a consistent problem in the furniture industry.
While Crate Designs may not be the sexiest furniture manufacturer, they make the pieces you depend on the most in your day-to-day life. They make bed frames, dressers, tables, chairs, and much more. These are the mainstays of any Canadian home, and they are built to last in their Chelsea, Ontario factory.
Everything is made from solid yellow pine with an optional veneer finish. Unlike the kinds of flat-pack furniture you might be used to buying from big box stores, Crate specializes in the kind of furniture that will easily last a lifetime. No more flimsy particleboard disintegrating if you look at it wrong; solid wood will last for life. While their pieces aren’t the cheapest, you know you are getting value for your money.
Amisco goes where very few furniture manufacturers go in Canada - they manufacture with steel. Where most of this type of work has been outsourced overseas, Amisco is resolved from making quality, long-lasting furniture in it’s two Quebec factories. They specialize in creating tables and chairs suitable for home and commercial use. You may have sat at an Amisco table or chair the last time you were out for dinner at a local restaurant.
Because they manufacture for commercial customers, you can count on their products are made to last. They carefully source their steel from North American steel mills, uncompromising in the quality and origin of their products.
So what is exactly the status of furniture manufacturing in Canada?
Alive and well.
While it may cost a fair bit more than internationally sourced options, Canadian-made furniture is easily one of the more sustainable and responsible options available. You don’t need to stress about the origin of the raw materials, the treatment of the labour, or the environmental cost of shipping it to you.
Next time you are looking for a quality piece of furniture, take a little extra time to look for one with a “Made in Canada” label. You may pay a little more, but you know that it’s a piece that will easily last a lifetime, and then some.