Why Is It Some Office Chairs Are So Expensive?

On the face of it some office chairs appear incredibly expensive and you may find yourself asking how they can possibly charge so much for an office seat.

At one end of the spectrum you’ve got the cheap chair where the maker just goes out and buys some off the shelf, mass produced stock components produced for the lowest price by some far eastern component producer. All this creates in reality is just another clone chair – investment research time and cost, pretty much nil.

At the other end of the spectrum is the major manufacturer striving to produce something different, innovative and hopefully ground breaking.

As an example Steelcase spent 4 years developing, researching and testing the Leap® chair making sure the chair was truly different to other products. This involved hundreds of testers and together with all the tooling costs for the new components represented a huge financial outlay.

It’s all too easy to overlook these behind the scenes costs when making a snap value judgement.

Ultimately the proof is in the finished chair and it’s only when you sit in some of the better products you really appreciate just how much better they are and how comfortably they support you.

As I’ve frequently stated in the past when you spend long hours working in an office chair you need to see it as a tool, an investment in your health and productivity, instead of adopting a limited life mentality.

Sometimes it can be tough to see it like this, however once you bite the bullet and invest in a quality office chair you’ll be really glad you did.