Green Living

7 Sustainable Dressers and Armoires to Store it All Away in Style (2024)

Published

1 year ago

July 14, 2024

Alice Rush

No matter how minimalist your home may be, we all have stuff to store — so check out these sustainable dressers, wardrobes, and armoires to help you keep your clothes organized.

Note that this guide includes affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to make a purchase through these links.

What Makes A Dresser Sustainable?

As with anything in sustainability, there are various approaches that can make something “sustainable”.

Secondhand

With over 12 million tons (or 24 billion pounds) of furniture getting wasted each year in the United States alone, it’s definitely a great idea to look used when possible!

Secondhand not only helps divert furniture from the landfill, but reduces the need to extract new materials, whether that’s metal, wood, cotton, or increasingly, petroleum for synthetic fabrics and plastic.

Here’s where to look for secondhand dressers:

Garage sales and estate sales (check EstateSales.net!)
Facebook Marketplace
OfferUp
AptDeco
Kaiyo

Responsibly Sourced Wood

Most storage furniture, like dressers, are made from wood (or engineered wood). While wood is a natural material, deforestation is a significant driver of climate change.

So, look for domestic or certified sustainably-sourced wood when purchasing wooden furniture. The largest most common certification is FSC, which stands for Forest Stewardship Council.

Even better is if you can find furniture made from reclaimed wood! This is basically upcycled wood that is being repurposed. This reclaimed wood can come from old barns, ships, factories, warehouses, or even wine barrels.

Non-Toxic Finishes

Unfortunately, many wood finishes contain harmful petroleum- and chemical-based solvents which can emit VOCs, or volatile organic compounds.

While the toxicity is most severe during application and does reduce with time, the chemicals can build up in your home, so you may feel most comfortable minimizing risk of VOCs.

Why does this matter? Well, the EPA reports that indoor air can be 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air — largely due to what we bring into our homes, from furniture to household cleaners.

Look for low-VOC finishes, water-based finishes, or plant-based oil finishes. Check out the Environmental Working Group’s guide to wood stains and finishes for more.

Well, we’ve done the hard work for you and curated furniture brands with sustainable dressers, armoires, and wardrobes.

Note that this guide includes affiliate links. As always, all brands meet strict criteria and are brands we love — and that we think you’ll love too!

Where to Find Sustainably Made Dressers

1. Avocado

Beautifully designed and built to last, Avocado Mattress uses either sustainably-harvested hardwood (solid walnut or maple) or reclaimed wood for their sustainable dressers, nightstands and other storage furniture. They also have bed frames if you want a matching set in your bedroom.

Everything is made in the company’s own FSC-certified Los Angeles woodshop.

Price Range: $1,939 – $3,999

Browse Avocado

2. Thuma

Designed for maximum functionality and versatility, Thuma’s 100% upcycled solid wood and GREENGUARD Gold Certified dressers give you endless options.

Configure a couple drawers for a nightstand and add on more drawers vertically or horizontally for a full dresser that can fit any space.

The modular setup may be especially useful for families with evolving needs or those who are moving frequently. You can add on more drawers if your needs grow or separate a large dresser into two smaller ones — the options really are endless.

Price Range: $1,165 – $3,495

Browse Thuma

3. Medley

Medley’s sustainable dressers are handmade to order in California. The wide dresser pictured here comes in maple or walnut sourced domestically in the US.

The tops and sides are solid hardwood and FSC-certified, low-VOC CARB 2 compliant hardwood plywood is used in the rest of the dresser. The piece is finished with non-toxic natural beeswax.

Price Range: $4,136

Browse Medley

4. Maiden Home

Elegantly handcrafted by expert furniture craftspeople in North Carolina, Maiden Home has beautiful sustainable bedroom furniture, including solid wood dressers and nightstands.

The dressers are made-to-order from solid wood.

Maiden Home is a woman-owned direct-to-consumer furniture company dedicated to creating timeless, quality furniture made with responsibly sourced materials.

Price Range: $2,800 – $5,175

Browse Maiden Home

5. West Elm Sustainably Sourced Collection

West Elm has made strides in sustainability with eco-friendly dressers that are GREENGUARD Gold Certified, crafted in Fair Trade Certified facilities, made from responsibly-sourced wood, and/or Contract Grade (i.e. high quality + durable).

Price Range: $879 – $2499

Browse West Elm

6. MasayaCo

MasayaCo is committed to responsible sourcing for all of their sustainable storage furniture. Each FSC-Certified piece is made to order by skilled artisans in Nicaragua from 100% solid teak wood that comes from their own reforestation projects. Even more impressive, the company leaves 40% of these projects completely untouched to thrive on its own.

Their stunning credenzas could easily be used as dressers, too.

Price Range: $2,295 – $2,395

Browse MasayaCo