apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Very thoughtful post!

PS: In case you didn't catch it: a "hangar" is what you park planes in, not what you hang clothes on :)

This is... interesting. Especially reading this after the whole "female home owners vs. renters" article.

I don't know how I feel about this yet. It's a nice thought. It sadly reminds me of why Disneyland revamped "It's a Small World" though.

"While we know that Small is Cool, nearly a third of American adults are obese and don't have that option."
ergo
Nearly a third of American adults are obese and don't have the option to be cool?

It's nice to see options for people who need a higher weight rating but a 300lb-capacity chair doesn't seem revolutionary. (Isn't 250 pretty standard?) It also would be nice to see furnishings for people who have mobility limitations and other disabilities.

Those chairs don't appear any more sturdy than similar smaller chairs - They just have wider seats.

I don't want to be insensitive to people with weight issues, but I have a problem with this. It seems they are designing products to take advantage of obese people rather than trying to design a solution to help them.

1GH, glad to know I'm not the only one who raised an eyebrow there.

Yeah, I'm with 1GH all the way. That was a weirdly worded phrase about small/cool, and then...yeah, furniture should hold a lot more weight than an average person - it's called QUALITY CONSTRUCTION.

When I shop for furniture I always consider the comfortability factor - I would never buy a chair that I or any one of my friends couldn't be comfortable in, little butt OR big butt!

I think it's great to have this variety for the target consumer, considering I am one of them!

I agree with shofner - encouraging a potentially deadly "disease," or whatever you want to call it, doesn't make much sense and does in fact seem like exploitation. There's plenty of sturdy furniture out there for those who are obese, propagating or profiting from obesity is a pretty cruel from of capitalism if you ask me...

shofner,
Regardless of what one thinks about the morality of being obese or obesity's health effects, weighing X00 pounds doesn't mean you don't deserve a place to sit. I think I know where you are coming from, really, and am not being snarky. But no one is going to *gain* weight just because a chair is sturdy enough to hold them. People of all body types should be able to be comfortable in their own homes, if no where else, and sit dignity and comfort.

LMK and KDKaboom--Thanks. Glad I'm not the only one struck oddly by that.

Wait, small people can't use "bath sheets"? I thought they were just for everyone, to feel more luxurious.

This is silly. DH is a really big guy - 6'6" with a large frame - and we don't have trouble finding furniture he fits in in any furniture store in town. This is a pretty cheap marketing ploy.

On the other hand, he has a terrible time finding a car he's comfortable in, and let's not even discuss airplane seats. Good opportunities for entrepreneurs out there...

This is a good idea. Just like attractive plus-size clothing is a good idea--feeling comfortable in home, clothes, and body is a good thing.

And the standards for who is "obese" or not are a bit...off, and you have to remember people who are just plain large. Imagine being Andre the Giant trying to squeeze into a tiny chair with arms.

If you look at the website you'll see that most of the chairs have much higher weight ratings (400 - 800lbs) and the toilet goes up to 1200lbs. So yes, this site is dealing with people who are seriously obese.

Simply buying 'sturdy furniture' isn't an option - most furniture is not made to handle someone who weighs more than 300 lbs. I developed a bariatric surgery program for my former hospital, and believe me, you don't just buy regular furniture and hope that it holds.

It must be extremely disheartening when furniture doesn't "fit" ... and our "small" society tends to make obese ppl feel like pariahs. Being more accommodating to obesity with things others of us take for granted might actually end up encouraging some to pursue a healthier lifestyle, simply because they would feel included rather than excluded.

This isn't a marketing ploy considering there are many people who do require larger dimmensions for furniture to be user friendly and comfortable.

It's important that design addresses the needs of many, not just a select few.

What makes this any different from, say, the companies that make whitening toothpaste for smokers, helping them get the yellow out? Are they not enabling, too?

If it were so easy for everyone to lose weight the same way, obesity wouldn't even be a word in the dictionary. For some people, realizing that furniture or airline seats are not a good fit isn't that magic pill that encourages them to lose weight. But everyone deserves to be comfortable.

Now, quality? Don't confuse this company with some longtime furnituremakers. It's cheap--and I truly believe this product line won't fly once consumers see that.

Looks like the Design field is a little late in dealing with this problem. In the Federal Government under the ADA they can provide super fat employees with chairs that are referred to as "Special Needs" chairs. They are chairs that don't have elbow rest so that the employees can get in and out of the chairs without getting stuck. The Governement also on occasion provides certain facilities with super size elevators. In areas such as Memphis, Detroit and certain other super unfit cities, these elevators are needed to accomodate the movement of multiple severely obese employees.

What an excellent idea. It, too often, seems that "fatscism" is still acceptable.

I am not sure how I feel about this. Isn't this another crutch to keep one OBESE? I mean, there are real issues that need to be addressed if you can't fit in a chair, or need a few extra yards of towel to clean your extra skin with.

I am just saying... a little exercise, portion control, and regular check-ups goes a long way in staying a healthy size.

Tracipants- you obviously have no clue. If a little "portion control" and a "little exercise" worked for the people who these products are marketed to, then there wouldn't _be_ the need for these products. Do you have any idea what it is like to be even moderately fat, much less extremely fat in society today? We are all but demonized. The pressure to lose weight is extreme and I can guarantee you that if you point to any random fat person, that fat person has engaged in any number of attempts to become not fat, sometimes at any cost.

Simply put, there's a huge difference between you keeping five to ten to fifteen pounds off by eating sensibly and going to the gym and someone loosing a hundred pounds or a couple hundred pounds.

These products are not a crutch to keep people "obese". They are needed items to help people keep dignity and quality of life.

I'd say that not for "some" people but for almost any fat person realizing that airline seats don't fit, etc. isn't the magic pill that will make them lose weight. The pressure to lose weight is extreme. It's not just chairs and airline seats not fitting. It's screaming at you from the television, newspapers, radios and internet every day. It's people who supposedly love you shaming you every chance they get. It's doctors who are supposed to care for you giving you the prescription "lose weight" to every problem, no matter the cause. Bronchitis? Lose weight. Broken leg? Lose weight. Serious depression? Lose weight.

And you think that not making an office chair that can hold a person's weight is somehow going to make more of a difference than all of the other messages to lose weight that are so prevalent? Get real.

The comments to this post have bothered me more than any single other issue ever posted on Apartment Therapy. I just can't believe that anyone would have a problem with these products being offered.