BIFMA, the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association, is a not-for-profit trade association that manages industry safety, performance and sustainability standards, delivers education, advocacy, and thought leadership on behalf of its members and the industry to create healthy, safe, comfortable, and productive workspaces.
This is no short order as the organization remains on the leading edge of the market, the regulatory environment, and ever-evolving technologies and innovations, moving the needle forward in terms of the safety, performance, and sustainability of commercial furniture.
The voice of the industry
The North American business and institutional furniture market represents more than $22 billion, a figure that continues to grow year over year; as a result, so too does BIFMA’s size and impact.
While North American membership has remained stable over the last four years, there has been a marked increase in international membership, which speaks volumes to the organization’s ability to influence the industry globally. There is also a growing number of international manufacturers testing to BIFMA standards to compete in the North American market and become eligible for the BIFMA Compliant® program, which provides a registry of standards-conforming furniture products worthy of deep consumer confidence.
“BIFMA is fortunate to be an association that the marketplace trusts. We’ve earned that over 50 years of focused work in defining safety, durability, and sustainability baseline requirements through the BIFMA standards and LEVEL Certification,” notes Director of Outreach and Learning, Jennifer Wammack.
BIFMA Compliant® is a program that is designed to support the marketplace. It serves as a one-stop resource to verify product compliance with safety and durability standards. The registry includes nearly 3,400 products and 87 manufacturers who have voluntarily complied and tested to one or more of the ANSI/BIFMA standards.
Another market facing program is LEVEL® by BIFMA, which is viewed as “The Furniture Sustainability Label.” Products are measured against the criteria set out in ANSI/BIFMA e3 Furniture Sustainability Standard and evaluated by third-party certifiers to ensure products are manufactured responsibly. The latest version of the standard was published in 2025 for greater clarity and transparency and expanded scope. With the introduction of a fourth level of sustainability, the revisions create a greater distinction between the four levels. Further, the certification period was extended from three to five years.
“The revision committee went into this revision process and set objectives to refine requirements to meet market demands because, as we know, sustainability means different things to different people,” explains Steve Kooy, Director of Health and Sustainability.
Now in its sixth iteration, the e3 Standard, which covers social responsibility in the supply chain, material sourcing, and environmental impacts to reward those who seek to produce a socially responsible, climate-positive product, BIFMA has levelled up the industry standard with a fourth level of achievement.
The industry is up to the challenge, too. Certifications are up 37 percent and the e3 standard is now recognized by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly program and aligned with USGBC LEED V5 and WELL programs.
Setting the industry standard
For 50 years, BIFMA has developed and maintained relevant and sound standards through multistakeholder engagement to ensure market relevance and compliance with ANSI’s revision cycle, whereby standards are reviewed and revised or reaffirmed every five years.
“BIFMA has made a decision that we will only reaffirm a standard once; we will open a standard for revision every 10 years. We feel that there is enough change in the industry that it warrants an update,” explains President and CEO, Deirdre Jimenez.
As it stands, there are several standards at various stages of development or revision. Among them, the M7.1 standard related to Low Emitting Furniture is currently in the final revision stages, which will move it closer to harmonization with European emissions standards both in terms of the measurement of emissions and the establishment of a threshold for low emitting furniture.
Further, approval is near for the revised X5.1 General Purpose Office Seating, X5.11 Large Occupant General Purpose Office Seating, and X6.1 Educational Seating standards, which seek to harmonize methods and clarify requirements across all three standards. “Revising all three chair standards at the same time was a big lift but will ensure consistency and alignment going forward,” states Anthony Serge, Director of Safety and Performance.
Updated guidelines for X8.1 Furniture Surfaces: Design and Durability for Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting have also been published, which provide guidance beyond healthcare environments, establishing performance and testing criteria across multiple industries and sectors. With consideration for both healthcare and commercial settings, the guideline provides performance tiers that support manufacturers, specifiers, and users in selecting surfaces based on expected lifecycles for intended use and cleaning frequency, a challenge that gained predominance during the pandemic when surfaces were cleaned more frequently using stronger cleaners that over time could damage materials.
Likewise, the X9.2 Privacy Pods Standard aims to ensure safety, stability, ventilation, and acoustical privacy for individual and group pod use. The association has targeted the end of 2026 for publication of this new standard.
Empowering standards adoption through education
Standards are adopted most effectively when paired with education and outreach, which is why BIFMA continues to expand its learning platform to communicate new, revised, or reaffirmed standards.
BIFMA Learning provides complimentary education via continuing education units (CEUs) to design professionals, students, customers, and members via four major educational deployment channels, including free CEUs to the general public, Design Firm Direct, Classroom Direct, and industry conferences.
For Wammack, CEUs serve as a vehicle by which the educational content is packaged and delivered to fulfill accreditation requirements for BIFMA content in the learning environment. “It is a great way for BIFMA to be able to educate those market stakeholders who really need to know about the BIFMA standards and our programs like LEVEL® and Compliant®,” she says.
CEUs, like standards, are updated, reaccredited, and revised, and new CEUs are developed alongside market needs, which also serves professionals seeking continuous learning.
New CEUs include “Being Compliant” and “Understanding the BIFMA Standard for Furniture Ergonomics.” Three others have recently undergone revisions for reaccreditation including “LEVEL® by BIFMA: The Definitive Certification Program for Sustainable Furniture;” “Why Standards Matter;” and “Sustainability Standards Through Furniture.”
Convening the industry
Education not only benefits the marketplace and the industry through information transfer, but also by virtue of bringing people together. Multistakeholder engagement is one of the most effective ways the association achieves this, by hosting industry-leading events. The 360 Leadership Conference is one of those events. The hallmark event of the season brings industry leaders together to hear from leading business experts and reflect on the future of the industry.
“One of the most requested topics for the conference is technology. This year we’re moving the AI discussion from adoption to adaptation and looking at how AI is changing how people work. That will change what furniture products are needed to support that new form of working,” Jimenez explains. Noting that, the association seeks to monitor and address the cultural shift that is resulting from the rate of technological advancement and its implications on its members and the market.
There is also growing interest in the association’s Furniture Summit, which brings the industry and its members together to share success stories, address pain points, and work collaboratively to determine the best path forward.
“At a very high level, one of the goals of BIFMA, one of the reasons BIFMA exists, and one of the services that BIFMA provides best, is to convene the community, reaching out to make sure voices from all interested parties have a seat at the table as we look at moving the industry forward,” Jimenez shares.
Forward trajectory
BIFMA has grown in terms of both impact and size. In addition to maintaining its foundational standards, its learning program, and the events it convenes, the association has grown its capacity through the addition of three key roles.
Membership Services was added in 2023 to focus on membership recruiting, engagement, education, events, and the popular Industry Statistics program. “BIFMA members are extremely supportive of the association. They understand the work of the association benefits all industry manufacturers and suppliers. Assisting members to map into the programs and make introductions is a key part of growing the community,” shares Andrew Kotman, Director of Membership Services.
Other new roles include Marketing and Communications and Auditing for the Compliant Program. Together these new roles, working with the established team, will support the association’s goals to expand testing and sustainability certification; establish LEVEL® as the baseline requirements for project specifications; stay abreast of market trends and technology advancements while increasing engagement; growing membership; and continuing to lead, advocate, educate, collect actionable data, and identify opportunities to push the industry forward.
