People are at the core of everything we do, so we seek to foster healthy, safe environments for everywhere people are. Understanding what is in our products allows us to make them without chemicals that cause negative health and environmental outcomes. We’re committed to improving the health of all of our products and being fully transparent about that process.

People spend the majority of their time in indoor spaces, so it’s important that those spaces are as healthy as possible. Furniture can contribute to the health of an indoor space, when it is built with sustainable materials and without hazardous chemicals. Being thoughtful about how a product is created also allows us to improve our manufacturing processes, ensuring that those making the furniture, along with the environment, are impacted in a positive way.

We are making a big investment in material health and transparency, a key part of our sustainability journey. We are starting by making improvements in our supply chain and removing harmful chemicals from our products. We’ve also achieved certification for our low-emitting products, meaning they contribute to healthier indoor air quality. People often associate sustainability with higher cost, but we are working to keep our sustainable products affordable - we believe health and wellbeing shouldn’t come at a higher price. Creating products that meet these material health standards allow our clients to meet the demand for healthier products in their buildings.

Sustainability simply means creating a society and environment that will allow future generations to succeed. Hightower is among the leaders across industries that have taken on this responsibility as their own. We believe it’s the right thing to do, and see the market agreeing - the global green building market is projected to reach almost one trillion dollars in size in the next few years. Our clients are seeking out healthier products so that they may create healthier spaces for future generations.

Hightower product certifications can all be found and downloaded here or can be found on approved product pages.

Our Indoor Advantage Gold Certified products contribute to LEED and WELL. Some of our products also contain recycled content, which contributes to LEED. Click here to see a full list of products.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) was started by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2000 as a framework to support environmentally sound building practices. Many Hightower products contribute to LEED.

Click here to see a full list of products.

The WELL Building Standard was launched by International Well Building Institute in 2014. It is a human health-focused green building standard. Many Hightower products contribute to WELL, click here to see a full list of products.

Click here to learn more about WELL.

The Living Building Challenge (LBC) was launched by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) in 2006. LBC is considered to be the world’s most advanced green building standard, inspiring buildings that have net positive impacts on their environments. The Red List of chemicals is part of the LBC framework.

Click here to learn more about LBC.

The Red List, a guiding principle of LBC, consists of 22 classes of chemicals, or 800+ unique chemicals, known to be hazardous to human and environmental health. Hightower offers products that are Red List Free, click here to see a full list of products. This list will continue to grow.

Click here to learn more about the Red List.

Healthier Hospitals (HH) is a Practice Green Health Program, with the goal of eliminating the use of products that contain hazardous chemicals in order to create healthier healthcare environments. This program is not limited to hospitals, however, and many organizations have adopted this as guidance for their purchasing programs. Healthier Hospitals has several “challenges” within the program, and one of those is the Safer Chemicals Challenge. Hightower offers HH-compliant products, click here to see a full list of products.

Learn more about the Healthier Hospitals here.

VOCs belong to a group of organic chemicals that can evaporate into indoor and outdoor air causing negative environmental and human health impacts. These effects range from causing photochemical smog in the environment to respiratory irritation and carcinogenic effects in humans. This is of concern because VOCs (formaldehyde is the most common) are ingredients in many products in the built environment. Indoor Advantage Gold certification addresses VOCs, and our products with this certification meet the most stringent standard for VOC emissions.

mindful MATERIALS is a free online platform with aggregated information on products’ sustainability attributes that makes it easier for specifiers to find products that meet their sustainability needs. It was launched in June 2016 by leaders in the architect and design and manufacturing community. There are 6,400+ products and 3,000+ users on mindful MATERIALS. It is recognized as an important step in closing the feedback loop between manufacturers and A+D. Hightower has 41+ products listed on mindful MATERIALS, see them all here.

Learn more about mindful MATERIALS here.