Humanscale has launched Re-Freshed, a second-life program that extends the lifespan of its products through refurbishment and resale.
Beginning with the Freedom, Smart, and Liberty Chairs, the initiative builds on the company’s focus on durable design, material health, and products intended for repeated use over time.
The Freedom Chair, which was originally introduced over 25 years ago, was engineered for longevity, with replaceable components and a design that remains relevant across generations of workplaces. Through Re-Freshed, returned chairs are restored and reintroduced into the market, extending product life and reducing waste.
Each chair undergoes a structured refurbishment process that includes inspection, sanitization, and component review. High-touch parts such as arm pads, textiles, casters, and gas cylinders are replaced, while core structural elements are retained and reused. As a result, refurbished products retain the majority of their original materials while reducing the environmental impact associated with new manufacturing.
Compared to a brand-new chair, a Re-Freshed chair reduces material use by 78 per cent, water consumption by 73 per cent, greenhouse gas emissions by 69 per cent, and energy use by 67 per cent. These savings demonstrate the environmental benefits of extending product lifecycles and underscore the role refurbishment can play in reducing resource extraction and carbon emissions.
Re-Freshed also reflects Humanscale’s broader approach to design for reuse. For decades, the company has prioritized serviceability, repairability, and material efficiency to extend product lifecycles and reduce landfill waste. Its approach to circularity combines two elements: designing products for longevity and building systems that enable reuse at scale.
Traditional furniture production follows a linear model in which products are made, used, and discarded. A circular model keeps materials in use for as long as possible, reducing resource extraction, energy consumption, emissions, and waste. Since materials such as wood, metal, and plastics are difficult to recycle, circular systems are increasingly important in addressing global waste challenges.
To support this shift, Humanscale has spent years developing and testing circular processes through pilot programs and field learning, refining a system designed to scale as products reach the end of their first life.
