Building A Sustainable World By Dismantling Fast Furniture With Michael Barlow
Care More Be Better: A Podcast For Sustainable Social Impact and Regeneration
Corinna Bellizzi
5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 May 2023
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In today’s world of rapid movement, fast furniture is a real problem in almost every home. When people change addresses, they often discard a huge chunk of their furniture, only to buy new ones upon arriving to their next place. This only leads to tons of trash, and Michael Barlow is here to put an end to the dangers of fast furniture. Joining Corinna Bellizzi, he shares how they bring furniture into the service economy through Fernish, giving people the freedom to rent, swap, or rent-to-buy depending on their needs. He explains how this business model can help push the reuse economy forward and finally get rid of the IKEA culture. Michael also discusses how they minimize their carbon footprint by keeping a localized team and sourcing from local communities.
About Guest:
Michael Barlow is the co-founder and CEO of Fernish and sets the vision and strategy as the company changes the way people create and relate to their homes. After completing his fifth move in eight years, Michael co-founded Fernish in 2017, a furniture-as-a service business designed to bring furniture into the service economy and give people the freedom to rent, swap, rent-to-buy, buy or return furniture as their life and living situations change.
Prior to starting Fernish, Michael was Vice President of Atom Tickets and started his career at J.P. Morgan where he focused on mergers, acquisitions and leveraged finance (which was also the first time he had to carry a sofa up a four floor walk-up).
Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fernish/
Guest Website: https://fernish.com
Guest Social: https://www.instagram.com/fernish/, https://www.facebook.com/fernishliving/ , https://www.tiktok.com/@fernishliving
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And so what we're very proud to be able to share is that we've refurbished and reused over two million pounds of furniture in the past few years since we started this business. |
| 0:10.0 | And so that means we put it in circulation. We get the product back. We refurbish, refinish it and get it back out. |
| 0:15.0 | Again, give it a second life. Give it a third life. Give it a fourth life. And that's just the nature of our business model. |
| 0:20.0 | So we can talk about other sustainability efforts in terms of sourcing, supply chain that many |
| 0:25.6 | other retailers are focused on. But at the core of our business is this notion of circularity, |
| 0:31.5 | which is so distinct from everyone else in this category of furniture that it's super exciting |
| 0:37.2 | for us. |
| 0:37.7 | It's great to be able to share that message and share that story because we've built our |
| 0:40.9 | business on the foundation of sustainability, core to our DNA. |
| 0:45.6 | We're not trying to go find a message that may or may not be genuine out there as a legacy brand. |
| 0:51.9 | We built the brand with this in mind. Welcome to Care More Be Better, a podcast for people like you who care about the social |
| 0:59.6 | impact of conscious companies and everyday heroes. Here inspiring stories from those who put |
| 1:05.6 | people in planet before profit and personal gain. You'll learn how you can make a difference, |
| 1:10.6 | vote with your dollars, and get involved today you can make a difference, vote with your |
| 1:11.1 | dollars, and get involved today. |
| 1:13.5 | Here's your host, Karina Belizzi. |
| 1:19.2 | Hello, fellow do-goaters and friends. |
| 1:21.7 | I'm your host, Karina Belizzi. |
| 1:24.1 | If you're at all like me, you probably try to buy everything you can locally and often used, |
| 1:30.7 | so you're not contributing to the world of overconsumption, wasteful emissions, and more. |
| 1:36.5 | But what about the way that you furnish your home? |
| 1:39.7 | I've personally managed to get my past two couches on the used marketplace. But let me tell you, |
... |
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