For the 2024 summer sales, watch out for the “fast deco” from Ikea, Zara Home or Temu

ENVIRONMENT – You have probably already heard of fast fashion, but have you heard of “fast deco”? It follows the same principle as for fashion: producing an excessive quantity of furniture and decorations of lower quality, at very low prices, with constantly renewed collections, but which is not without consequences on the environmental level.

To understand the extent of the phenomenon, the Zero Waste France association published a report last May. It tells us that the number of furnishing items placed on the market in France increased by 88% between 2017 and 2022, going from 269 to 505 million units placed on the market, according to figures from the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe).

Increasing production also means waste: it doubled between 2014 and 2020. There is therefore no doubt that “fast decor” is a model that has established itself in our lives. However, when we buy a piece of furniture, we hope that it will last several years, even decades, so how did we get there?

From Ikea to fast fashion

Previously, furniture represented the purchase of a lifetime and families passed it down from generation to generation. But a change in furniture consumption took place in France in the 1980s, with the arrival of Ikea.

Throwing away a sofa to buy another is no longer the same economic sacrifice, especially since the Swedish brand regularly reinvents itself with collections and a catalog that includes 3,000 new items each year. “Ikea is a fashion company in the furniture sector”, says Cecilia Soler, associate professor of marketing at the University of Gothenburg, in the documentary “Ikea, Lord of the Forests” broadcast on Arte. This is what we call “fast furniture”, to which is now added “fast decoration” and which convinces beyond traditional furniture stores.

If brands like Conforama and Maisons du Monde have aligned themselves with the Ikea model, others like Hema, Søstrene Grene or clearance stores like Gifi or Action, have specialized in decoration. Thus, they offer renewed collections each season or for each annual event such as Christmas or Halloween.

The other player in this fast decor remains e-commerce, whether it is brands like Amazon or the ultra fast fashion sites that have appeared recently, like Shein or Temu. In addition to their clothing at ridiculously low prices, they are now sticking their strategy to decorative products.

And this shift has not escaped other more classic fast fashion brands like H&M or Zara, since in the 2010s, they opened their H&M Home or Zara Home branch. And for several years, we have even found decoration in hypermarkets like Carrefour or E.Leclerc.

Environmental impact

But who says fast fashion or fast decoration, also says social cost and environmental cost. “ When the rate is very low, you can be 100% sure that someone or something is paying the price. In this specific case, it is nature that pays for these cheap products,” explains Cecilia Soler in the Arte documentary.

“Contrary to popular belief, it is not transport that will have the greatest impact from an environmental point of view, it is the materials used and the manufacturing process”, specifies Emily Spiesser from Ademe in the documentary “Deco for all, behind the scenes”, broadcast on France Télévision. And of course, ” Too frequent renewal is also harmful to the environment.

According to a study by Ademe, for products made from wood and other materials, raw materials represent 30 to 50% of their environmental impact. It is even worse for products made without wood, preferring for example plastic or metal, raw materials then represent 60 to 80% of their environmental impact.

How not to fall into the trap of fast decoration? Here too, the solution is the same as for fast fashion. “We are still victims of advertising and marketing logic that encourages us to consume. The idea is therefore to question your own needs”indicates to HuffPostPauline Debrabandere, campaign coordinator at Zero Waste France.

Once we have defined what we really need, you can try to find them on more environmentally responsible sites or brands. “But what will have the least impact are products that have already been used and that find a new use.”insists Pauline Debrabandere. In addition to being more environmentally friendly, these products often have the advantage of being less expensive. So to find a good deal, the coordinator of Zero Waste France advises you to take a look at resource centers and recycling centers and on second-hand platforms.

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