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Summary: I became a Sabai Design customer in 2021, when I first purchased the Sabai Essential Sofa for my studio apartment. Since then, I’ve become notorious for testing sustainable sofas and couches from numerous brands, but I’ve never found a sofa I’ve loved as much as my Sabai. When I moved to a larger home last year, I sold my Sabai Essential and upgraded to the Sabai Elevate Reversible L Sectional. It’s the most comfortable, durable, and chic couch I’ve ever owned. And as a new mom, I’m obsessed with the nontoxic materials and how it’s essentially spill- and stain-proof. Read on to hear why I recommend this sofa to anyone who asks.

What I Love About Sabai:

  • Sabai (a small, woman-owned business) makes all of its furniture in the USA, with 90 percent of the material sourced within 100 miles of the family-owned factory. Everything is made to order. 
  • The brand prioritizes nontoxic materials and recycled fabrics. They use FSC-certified wood, CertiPUR-US® foam, and plastic-free shipping. No PFAS and no flame retardants.
  • The couches are made to grow with you rather than be replaced or discarded. The brand has a buyback program (Sabai Revive) so you can trade in your old Sabai or buy a secondhand couch. They also offer slipcovers, expansion kits, and replacement cushions.
  • This is the perfect couch for people with kids and pets. It’s low profile, making it easy for toddlers to climb up and down from the couch. And the recycled velvet is forgiving and stain-resistant. Spills, pet hair and claws, food stains—none of it is a match for the material.  

Things To Keep In Mind:

  • Sabai couches are an investment. Sofas start at $1,295 for a loveseat (payment plans available through Klarna).
  • Because Sabai couches are made to order, there can be a long wait between ordering and actually receiving the couch.
  • I’ve tested a lot of sofas, and this one was one of the most challenging to put together. Blame it on postpartum hormones, but I had a few meltdowns. More on the experience below, but I wouldn’t do it again without White Glove Delivery.

Finding A Truly PFAS-Free Sofa

The year is 2020, and my husband and I are searching for a new couch. Our secondhand World Market sofa is seriously sagging from years of use. We are spending most of our time indoors because of the pandemic, and the lumpy cushions just aren’t cutting it anymore. We’re in our early thirties and have decided it’s finally time to invest in our first-ever new couch.

If you know me, you know I rarely buy things new. I’m drawn to furniture that feels lived-in and full of character, and I love both the price point and the sustainability of shopping secondhand. But some pieces just aren’t worth the tradeoffs—like a mattress. Couches can be tricky, too, depending on how many owners they’ve had and what you’re actually looking for. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized it’s more cost-effective in the long run to invest in a sofa I really love—something that can hold up for years (ideally decades) and grow with my family.

After going through infertility, I’ve also become much more conscious of the materials we’re bringing into our home—especially when it comes to things like PFAS. And now that we have a little one, nontoxic, PFAS-free materials feel more important than ever.

Two people relax in a bright living room, one sitting on a yellow sofa and the other lying on a white sofa with a small dog. Large windows show trees outside.
Photo by Sabai

Founded in late 2019 by Phantila Phataraprasit and Caitlin Ellen, Sabai offers high-quality furniture pieces for your home, including sofas, chairs, loveseats and coffee tables. More than this, though, the brand has and continues to set a new standard for earth-friendly and domestically manufactured furniture. For example, everything is made to order in High Point, NC, with 90 percent of the material sourced within 100 miles of the family-owned factory. 

“The company cares about how the couches are made and what the couches are made from.”

The company also cares about how the couches are made and what they are made from. When they say no greenwashing, no chemicals, and no sacrificing values, they mean it. Sabai is upfront about the certifications behind their materials, including FSC-certified wood for the frames, Greenguard Gold-certified upcycled poly fabric, CertiPUR-US® foam, and OEKO-TEX® certifications. They also incorporate PETA-approved vegan materials, like their cactus leather, which is completely animal-free. Everything is PFAS-free and BPA-free.

Reviewing The Elevate Sofa in Velvet Brown

sabai sofa couch
Our Sabai Essential Sectional in 2021

I previously owned The Essential Sectional in Moss Recycled Velvet with the natural legs. Before that, I’d only ever owned grey couches in various shades, and this was my first time going with a fun fabric and color. (Quick aside: my mom had a velvet green couch in the ‘90s, so the purchase felt like an homage and extra sentimental.)

I loved The Essential dearly. It was one of my favorite pieces of furniture in our home, and it held so many memories—Friday sushi dates, watching the nye ball drop, crying through infertility treatments, a guest bed for dear friends who came to visit, and snuggling with our pup who’s no longer with us. It held up beautifully over the years we had it, and while I was excited to upgrade to a larger home once we got pregnant, I was also a little sad that our small sectional no longer fit our space or needs.

I mentioned earlier that I’ve become notorious for testing sustainable sofas, and so we cycled through a few different brands when we first moved into our new home, trying them for a few months and then gifting them to friends. I always missed my Sabai, though. And so when it came time to choose a couch we could keep for the long haul, I knew I wanted to go back to where it started.

Five fabric swatches in neutral and blue tones, one labeled "SABAI," arranged on a wood surface.

I had a hunch that we would return to the recycled velvet because it’s just so warm and chic, but I ordered a few sample swatches first to make sure. The Hemp Blend in Thistle is so dreamy and was a very close second! Ultimately, though, we chose The Elevate Reversible L Sectional in Chocolate Recycled Velvet for several reasons.

For starters, I love how timeless the color is, especially for where we live in Southern California (it gives you a bit of that 1970s Hollywood aesthetic). I also love that the couch is reversible and that we can adjust it to fit future spaces with the expansion kits, so I never have to worry about whether our sofa will fit. Finally, the low profile, curved arms, and firm cushions make so much sense for our lifestyle with a baby. The seat height is only 16″, which made me hesitant at first, but it’s actually been perfect for us, and I’m so happy with how it looks and feels in our space.

Delivery and Assembly

Let’s start with delivery. The sectional came in a lot of boxes, whereas the Essential came in only two extra-large, extra-heavy boxes. This was great because it was easy to store the couch in our garage until we were ready to assemble and I could manage each box by myself. But it meant a lot of cardboard to break down once everything was unpacked. Of course, if you opt for the White Glove Assembly (which I regret not doing), they handle all of this for you.

Several large cardboard boxes labeled "SABAI" are stacked in front of a closed garage door on a driveway.
Several large brown couch cushions and parts are propped against a living room wall on hardwood floors next to a window.

“We’re working with Valley Companies, a family run business that’s been around for 95 years, to offer White Glove Delivery to the Continental US for specific pieces in the Essential, Elevate, Evergreen, and Bacana Collections.” —Sabai

Unpacking and assembling the sectional was a project. It took us a little under three hours, and we had a few hiccups with putting pieces in the wrong place. My biggest complaint is the digital instructions from Sabai. While I greatly appreciate the effort to minimize paper waste, it was difficult to follow the assembly instructions digitally via our phones. We actually ended up screencasting the PDF to our TV, which helped a bit. But I still would have preferred a hard copy we could move around the room with us.

The hardest part was lining the brackets up just right to slide all the pieces together. The couch is also heavy, so as it grows in size, it becomes increasingly difficult to assemble. We ultimately managed after a few mini breakdowns, but again, I highly recommend hiring help for assembly. It’s worth it.

My Initial Impression

Once the couch was assembled and we broke down each cardboard box, our woes disappeared as we melted into the cushions. One of my favorite features of Sabai sofas is the long, continuous cushions instead of individual seat pillows—it makes it feel much more like a bed when you put your feet up or take a nap. You don’t slip between the seats, and our daughter actually learned to crawl on the couch because the surface is so smooth and soft.

I also can’t overstate how good the color is in person. It’s the perfect chocolate brown and immediately elevated our space. We had a moody blue pillow-top sofa before, which worked for a more “beach house” feel, but the Sabai feels noticeably more chic and refined while still warm and inviting.

A brown velvet sofa sits in a living room with a bookshelf, two black-and-white artworks on the wall, a white lamp, and several houseplants.
A hand in a gray sweater opens the zipper of a brown cushion to reveal the white inner pillow and a visible care label.

Testing Stains and Spills

Things this sofa has absorbed since we’ve owned it: formula milk, baby drool, an entire glass of red wine, splatters from soy sauce (because: sushi nights), and probably other liquids I am forgetting. This couch is a literal tank. Nothing shows. The recycled velvet repels liquid. To show you just how resilient and forgiving it is, I purposely spilled some cherry juice on the cushions.

One note: the recycled velvet is made from recycled polyester fibers, but it’s been tested for PFAS, PFOAs, and BPA. It’s also OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 certified and conforms to the Global Recycled Standard 4.0.

If you prefer something more natural, I’d go with Sabai’s hemp fabric. It’s a 55% organic hemp and 45% cotton blend, free from PFAS and BPA, OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 certified, and compliant with Organic Content Standard 3.0. It’s not quite as forgiving when it comes to stains, but Sabai’s Repair Don’t Replace program makes it easy to swap out cushions if they’re ever damaged beyond repair.

A baby sits on the corner of a brown sectional sofa in a living room with a bookshelf, two framed pictures, and a plant against a white wall.
A baby in a light green outfit stands facing a brown sofa, holding onto it for support in a living room with framed photos and plants in the background.

Final Thoughts

Is it dramatic to say I can’t imagine ever parting with this sofa? It really feels like the perfect piece for our home. With all the options to expand, downsize, reconfigure, and even switch up the fabric over time, it’s the kind of “forever furniture” I can see living with for decades and eventually passing down to my daughter (how fun would that be?).

After testing dozens of sustainable sofas—from pillow tops and modular setups to cloud cushions and bright white fabrics (whyyyy?), Sabai is the one that truly checks every box for me. I even have one of their lumbar pillows on the way, and I’m already eyeing The Bacana Armchair—that Thistle color is calling my name.

A living room with a brown sectional sofa, wooden coffee table, white side table with a lamp, bookshelf, framed art, and a door leading outside.
Brown velvet sofa next to a white round side table with a lamp and green coaster on it; part of a rug and slippers visible on a wooden floor.

Have questions about Sabai or my experience with their sofas? Leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them below!

Curious about other Sabai products? Check out reviews for Sabai’s Bacana Outdoor Furniture Collection and Sabai’s Sleeper Sofa.

Kayti Christian is a Senior Content Strategist at The Good Trade. With an MFA in Nonfiction Creative Writing, her work has appeared in TODAY, Shondaland, and The New York Times. Since 2017, Kayti has been uncovering and reviewing the best sustainable home brands and wellness products. Her personal journey through four years of fertility treatments has inspired her to write extensively about women’s healthcare and reproductive access. Beyond her work at The Good Trade, Kayti is the creator of phone notes, a Substack newsletter with 7,000 subscribers, and the cohost of the FriedEggs Podcast, which delves into IVF and infertility.