Name: The Sabai's Essential Sectional Sofa: Product Specialist Review
Brand: Sabai

Interior design and home decor is a multi-billion dollar industry. But many of its practices are less than environmentally friendly — with more than 12 million tons of furniture thrown out annually.

Sabai is trying to change things.

The New York-based brand makes sustainable sofas at an affordable price point. And as an interior designer who puts sustainability at the heart of everything I do, I jumped at the chance to review its Essential Sectional.

Could Sabai’s sofa meet my expectations for sustainability and also provide the perfect space to sit back, relax and watch a movie? Let’s find out.

Essential

Sabai

Shop Now

Cozy

Quick lead times – 4 weeks is great
Taking a lead on sustainable practices
US-made
A variety of colors and recycled/upcycled materials
Compact for apartment living
Soft cushions to relax into
Ability to replace just one piece as needed

Not so cozy

Backrest and height overall is a little too low profile
Lots of boxes and cardboard to deal with

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Sabai Essential Sectional comfortable?

The Essential Sectional is comfortable for both sitting and lounging, which matters if your sofa doubles as your movie-watching and napping spot. The cushions have a medium firmness that provides support without feeling stiff — they conform to your body without being overstuffed. It's not a deep-sink cloud sofa, but it strikes a good balance between support and relaxation that holds up well over daily use.

Is Sabai furniture sustainable?

Sustainability is central to Sabai's brand, and it's not just marketing language. The Essential Sectional uses FSC-certified wood frames, recycled and upcycled fabrics (recycled velvet and recycled poly-blend), and CertiPUR-US certified foam. Sabai also offers a furniture recycling program and designs its pieces with replaceable cushion covers and components, so you can refresh the sofa rather than replacing it entirely. For a DTC sofa at this price, the sustainability credentials are among the strongest in the market.

How long does Sabai take to deliver?

Sabai offers the Essential Sectional in eight colorways across two fabric types (recycled velvet and recycled poly-blend), and in-stock options typically ship within 1–4 weeks. Custom or made-to-order configurations may take longer. The sofa ships in compact boxes that fit through standard doorways, so no freight delivery coordination needed. Assembly is straightforward with clear instructions.

How does the Sabai Essential Sectional compare to other sustainable sofas?

In the sustainable DTC sofa category, Sabai competes with brands like Medley and Crate & Barrel's eco-lines, but at a lower price point. The trade-off is fewer customization options and a simpler design language. What Sabai does better than most is the replaceability angle — being able to swap cushion covers, legs, and sections means the sofa evolves with you rather than becoming landfill. For sustainability-conscious shoppers on a moderate budget, it's one of the best values available.

About

Sabai

Sustainable furniture with none of the sacrifice

With a mission to make beautifully designed, affordable furniture, Sabai uses sustainable materials and ethical manufacturing to create every piece in its collection. The brand's journey started as its founders were setting up their first apartment after finishing college and struggling to find furniture that was sustainable, and suitable for their budget.

"When we were shopping for furniture for our first apartment, we couldn't find a first-hand option that felt sustainable in our price range. So we decided to make it ourselves."

Phantila Phataraprasit

Co-Founder, Sabai

Read Interview

No items found.

Sabai believes sustainable furniture is a right, not a privilege. They're transparent about materials—FSC-certified frames, recycled foam, low-impact textiles—and philosophically committed to keeping sofas out of landfills through their innovative buy-back program. Quality and environmental responsibility aren't competing interests; they're the foundation.

Shop Now

‍

Getting Hands-on with Sabai’s Essential Sectional

Designing Your Essential Sectional

First impressions go a long way and Sabai’s website is beautifully designed, and user-friendly. So navigating and customizing your sofa is a breeze.

The Essential Sectional comes in a variety of colors and materials (upcycled poly and recycled velvet), with a choice of dark brown or natural colored legs made from maple. You can make your customization choices in just a few clicks — I went for Moon Upcycled Poly and Natural legs.

Sabai Sofa color selection — The Essential Sectional on Sabai's website

As a designer with a strong focus on sustainability, I was so happy to see Sabai’s focus on circularity through its use of recycled fibers as well as the ability to replace sofa pieces as needed or trade-in your entire sofa at the end of its time with you via the Sabai Revive program. This is a big move in the sustainability world and is not common in the world of direct-to-consumer furniture.

Delivery and Construction

Sabai aims to deliver its sofas to customers around four weeks after they hit purchase (though lead times can vary depending on supply chains). Shipping to the continental US is also free on orders over $100.

Sabai Sofa in Boxes — Sabai delivers its sofas in easy-to-move boxes

Sabai uses curbside delivery via FedEx Home Delivery and all of its products are shipped in recycled cardboard boxes without the use of any plastic. They also didn’t send printed instructions. Instead, Sabai pointed us towards online instructions to build the sofa — which makes a ton of sense for a sofa ordered online.

The Essential Sectional is delivered in six boxes of varying sizes and weights, though most people should be able to move each box into the right spot in their home somewhat easily.

Sabai Sofa assembly — Starting to build the sofa

In terms of construction, the Essential Sectional wasn’t the most difficult piece of furniture I’ve ever built. But it also wasn’t the easiest. I needed a little bit of help to get the sofa’s backrest fitted as it slides into place between the side sections of the sofa in a precise way that needed two sets of hands to line up.

Once the back of the sofa was in place, the rest of the construction was super simple and Sabai’s screwdriver tool is much, much easier on the hands than the equivalent Ikea Allan wrench.

Living with the Essential Sectional

Once constructed, the Sabai Essential Sectional is comfortable to sit on and lay on — great for spending a few hours watching the latest Netflix blockbuster. The sofa cushions have a light feel and conform nicely to the body.

The sofa is quite low profile, though, so if you’re tall you might not find it offers the back and neck support you might like (I’m 5’5” I have to scoot low to get neck support).

The Essential Sectional comes at an affordable price point ($1,845 for a sectional is very good) and it’s made well for its price — especially when you consider all of the extra work Sabai puts in to ensure the sofa’s environmental standards. Each Sabai sofa is made from non-toxic, sustainable materials and crafted in a family-owned factory in High Point, North Carolina that’s committed to quality, safety, and a living wage.

It feels fairly light and has a compositional feel that’s comparable to an Ikea sofa model at the same kind of price point. The Essential Sofa would be well suited for apartment living in its size and its mobility — you won’t have to work too hard to move it from room-to-room or across town to a new home.

Where Sabai really stands out over the competition is its policy to replace single pieces of the sofa as needed.

Essential Sectional in the Room — The sofa has found a home in our office

Where Sabai really stands out over the competition is its policy to replace single pieces of the sofa as needed. This could solve huge amounts of hassle, not to mention waste, for those of us with pups and kids should things get damaged beyond basic repair.

Sabai has an industry-leading Repair Don’t Replace program that enables customers to pick up replacement parts for their sofas.

Sabai has an industry-leading Repair Don’t Replace program that enables customers to pick up replacement parts for their sofas. Teething puppy got to your sofa legs? You can get replacement legs starting at just $35. Need a new cushion cover? You can replace those too. You can even get a bundle to convert your standard sofa into a sectional.

Sabai Components — Sabai sells replacement components for its sofas

I wouldn’t be too surprised if the cushions ended up with a little bit of give over time due to the density and level of tautness of the fabric. Sometimes sofa makers will overstuff cushions to accommodate for some of this wear. The back cushions look good in this regard but I wonder how long the seat cushions could maintain their new feel and form. Due to Sabai’s Repair Don’t Replace program you can pick up new seat cushions starting at $95, which is a great solution if your seats do give a little too much after a year or two’s wear and tear.

A sofa for conscious consumers

The Sabai Essential Sectional is a good-looking sofa that could work with a number of different interior design styles. It comes with multiple color options and two leg colors. As a conscious consumer, its versatility, plus the fact that Sabai has made great leaps forward in sustainability would make me choose this brand over another in a heartbeat. The Sabai Essential sectional is perfect for the right space and client needing something this size and budget-friendly.

As a conscious consumer, its versatility, plus the fact that Sabai has made great leaps forward in sustainability would make me choose this brand over another in a heartbeat.

Sustainability has been largely ignored by the furniture industry. Many furniture makers rapidly use natural resources, carcinogenic chemicals that impact workers, habitats, and end-users, as well as unethical labor practices. Brands like Sabai are leading the change. And as consumers, collectively, we can continue to build more awareness of sustainability in the industry and redirect the billions of dollars spent on furniture annually to vendors and companies doing a cleaner and greener job.

About Our Editorial Team

Erica Reiner

Founder & Design Principal, Eco Method Interiors

Erica Reiner is the owner and design principal of Eco Method Interiors — a residential and commercial, eco-friendly, interior design company in Los Angeles.

Shop Sabai

Essential

A sustainable seating that invites lounging.

$1,695

Shop Now

About Living Cozy

Your go-to source for modern homeware and furniture brands.

We bring together industry experts and the people behind the brands we share our homes with to give you unique insights into the world of furniture, homeware and interior design.