Living Style Group

Evaluation Completed: 
April 14, 2025
Bedroom
Kitchen
More Affordable
Kids
Adults

The furniture group Living Style includes brands that are sold at places like Costco (e.g. Whalen, Bayside) they also appear to do lots of private label manufacturing for many other companies with house brands like Target (e.g. Threshold). Overall, we think the company has a solid foundation in place across most issues. And while much of their approach is focused on regulatory compliance, we do appreciate instances where they appear to be going beyond. For example, the company has eliminated PFAS from their upholstered products and is leaning into their use of certified wood and paper for their products and packaging. We hope their programs continue to mature and look forward to continued investment in ingredient safety and sustainability by the company.

Hilde Status:

Avoid

Consider

Recommended

We try to avoid purchasing or using products made by this company or their brands in our homes.
We may decide to purchase or use products made by this company or their brands in our homes when other options are not accessible.
Hilde Ratings
Topic
Rating
Ingredient Safety
Environmental impact
People Benefits
Accountability
Hilde Approved Certifications
Forest Stewardship Council
Hilde Likes
None Identified
Opportunities for Improvement

Benchmarking ingredient safety practices

Providing public disclosure and reporting

Establishing programs to address environmental impacts

Filling gaps on people impacts

Establishing good governance practices

Adopting a comprehensive approach to ingredient safety

Launching efforts to protect biodiversity

Additional Information
Parent Company:
Fung Group
Owned Brands:
Whalen Furniture, Bayside Furnishings
Product Types:
Sofas, sectionals, shelving, bed frames, dressers, chairs, dining tables, consoles

Evaluation Summary

Company Insights

Category Description

Our ingredient safety evaluation criteria are designed to help us determine how a company measures, manages, and discloses, the use of chemicals of concern that may be present in raw materials, ingredients, manufacturing processes, and finished products.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Criteria included in this category include but are not limited to goals, policies, practices and outcomes for the following topics:

Product & Packaging Circularity
Climate Protection, Biodiversity Protection
Goals & Metrics
Impact Reduction
High Quality Certifications
Other Topics
Ranking: Top 25%

Company ranks in the top 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Furniture

industry

Ranking: Bottom 25%

Company ranks in the bottom 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Furniture

industry

Hilde Likes
None Identified
Opportunities for Improvement

Establishing programs to address environmental impacts

We think this company should establish credible efforts to measure and disclose their environmental impacts and create time bound goals to improve performance

Launching efforts to protect biodiversity

We would like to see this company take steps to understand and mitigate the impacts their operations, supply chain, or products have on biodiversity, nature, and ecosystems and communicate about them publicly

Category Description

Our ingredient safety evaluation criteria are designed to help us determine how a company measures, manages, and discloses, the use of chemicals of concern that may be present in raw materials, ingredients, manufacturing processes, and finished products.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Criteria included in this category include but are not limited to goals, policies, practices and outcomes for the following topics:

Responsible Sourcing
Living Wages
Paid Maternity Leave
Supply Chain Transparency
High Quality Certifications
Other Topics
Ranking: Top 25%

Company ranks in the top 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Furniture

industry

Ranking: Bottom 25%

Company ranks in the bottom 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Furniture

industry

Hilde Likes
None Identified
Opportunities for Improvement

Filling gaps on people impacts

We believe this company should put credible efforts in place to ensure that their employees are treated fairly, that human rights are protected for people in their supply chain, raw materials are sourced responsibly, and publicly share info about their work

Category Description

Our ingredient safety evaluation criteria are designed to help us determine how a company measures, manages, and discloses, the use of chemicals of concern that may be present in raw materials, ingredients, manufacturing processes, and finished products.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Criteria included in this category include but are not limited to goals, policies, practices and outcomes for the following topics:

Mission Integration
Advocacy
Public Reporting & Disclosure
Performance Incentives
Ethical AI
High Quality Certifications
Ranking: Top 25%

Company ranks in the top 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Furniture

industry

Ranking: Bottom 25%

Company ranks in the bottom 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Furniture

industry

Hilde Likes
None Identified
Opportunities for Improvement

Providing public disclosure and reporting

We think this company should start publishing regular annual reports on sustainability or ESG topics for consumers or other stakeholders and maintain a publicly available archive of past reports

Establishing good governance practices

We think this company should integrate sustainability into the business model and decision making while enabling accountability mechanisms at the executive and board level

Category Description

Our ingredient safety evaluation criteria are designed to help us determine how a company measures, manages, and discloses, the use of chemicals of concern that may be present in raw materials, ingredients, manufacturing processes, and finished products.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

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