Sus­tain­abil­i­ty

The longer a product is used, the less it impacts the environment. We build products that last: versatility of function, wear-resistant materials, fine artisanship, reverse compatibility and timeless style all ensure that USM furniture will stand the test of time. Each piece of furniture is unique, planned and assembled individually according to customer needs – ensuring minimal waste and never a surplus. We design to reconfigure – all components can be carefully disassembled, checked, and returned to be reassembled. Though our products can be recycled, this rarely ever needs to happen: there is a large second-hand market, particularly in Europe, that USM actively supports.

Our commitment to conscious and responsible manufacturing starts with our decision to continue production in our Swiss homeland. All USM products are manufactured at the factory in Münsingen, near Bern in Switzerland, where the family company originated. Our manufacturing processes are carefully designed to ensure maximum safety, energy efficiency and almost total recyclability at every stage. Nearly all of the chrome we use is trivalent chromium which is much less harmful to the environment than conventional hexavalent chromium. Our powder coating is produced in state-of-the-art facilities, free from solvents and heavy metals such as lead.

For a company that prizes quality as much as we do, caring about people and their professional culture is both a moral and an economic imperative. As a Swiss company, respect for human rights is engrained in our culture. USM work environments are characterised by mutual esteem and tolerance, gender pay equality, diverse and barrier-free offices. We maintain our culture of welcoming ideas for the company from every area of the company. We invest into the next generation of skilled engineers and designers. We actively encourage professional development and support employee health and wellbeing. All this results in an above-average employee loyalty and an exceptionally low turnover rate. The average time of employment at USM internationally is 11.5 years (15.5 years at Swiss headquarters).

We are always looking for ways to support the wider community: The FONDATION USM, a not-for-profit charitable organisation, promotes and supports individuals and organisations in both culture and science around the world. Projects include the “HUE+MAN Design Competition”, that highlights emerging designers of colour, and the “USM Design Grant” awarded annually to art and design students to promote innovation.

We recognise the immediate need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and have committed to achieving the following emissions reductions in line with the latest climate science:

USM commits to reduce absolute direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 42% by 2030 from a 2021 base year.

USM also commits to reduce other absolute indirect greenhouse gas emissions (scope 3) by 25% within the same timeframe.

(Our target boundary includes land-related emissions and removals from bioenergy feedstocks.)

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved USM’s science-based short-term emissions reduction targets. The highly respected climate action organisation, partnering with several renowned organisations including the United Nations Global Compact and the Word Wide Fund of Nature (WWF), enables companies worldwide to play their part in combating the climate crisis.

Want to know more about what we are doing to reduce our emissions? Read our most recent Sustainability Report.