Introducing the Sofa Squad: Our Hunt for REALLY Comfortable Sofas

published Feb 6, 2017
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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

This month, we are kicking off a new series: The Apartment Therapy Sofa Squad. Internally known simply as “Sofa Squad”, our editorial team converged on New York City to couch surf our way through a hefty helping of retailers. We sat. We lounged. We plopped. We cocooned. We nestled. We faux napped (some may have actually napped.) All in the name of Sofa Squad.

SS’s mission is to do the sitting and rating for you. Know what comfortable means to you but not sure where to start looking? Sofa Squad is here. Wish you knew how a couch felt, but don’t have the store that carries it near you? Sofa Squad has you covered. Want to compare several potential purchases side by side but can’t be in two places at once? Well, Sofa Squad can.

If a store we visited had a sofa in stock, we rated it. And because comfort is a completely relative, subjective notion, we made sure to have the same piece of furniture tested by a plethora of Sofa Squaders. Some were tall; some were short; but all were after the same pursuit: to nose out the most comfortable seats at any given retailer.


The Rating Scale


Every sofa tested was rated by the following criteria:

(Image credit: Arlyn Hernandez)

Each criteria was given a scale of 1 to 5, then tallied and averaged for a cumulative score. I can’t speak for everyone on the squad, but I had some preconceived notions for some of these sofas. I’d seen many of them online, even tested some out IRL here and there, but nothing clarifies your thoughts on a product like speed dating it. Sure, some were really pretty from afar, but once I sat down, my crush ended. When you go from a super soft, plush seat to something that closely resembles a wooden pallet (sorry, but some of them did), you quickly realize which you prefer. It’s what I started calling “Goldilocks Syndrome.” We were all seeking that “just right” feeling: not too deep, not too shallow; just soft enough so that it wasn’t difficult to pry yourself off the seat but firm enough to provide support; and, of course, undeniably nap-friendly.

The Stores (So Far…)



*We want to continue sitting on sofas for a living, so please share in the comments some other retailers you want us to Sofa Squad (yes, I’m using that as a verb.) We’ll get right on it!