DIFFERENT by Design

Lovesac's founder & CEO details his vision for a sustain-able company

- DAMIEN MARTIN

It’s not often that you hear CEOs talk about influencing people to buy fewer things. Shawn D. Nelson, who founded Lovesac just over a quarter-century ago, knows he doesn’t talk like most CEOs, and he’s OK with that. The company he started at 18 by cutting strips of vinyl and assembling a bean bag is now approaching $1 billion in annual sales and is the fasting-growing furniture company in the U.S. It’s not small by any means, but as Nelson tells investors, “We can’t ever become the size of Apple, because I refuse to sell you the same thing even twice.”

The company’s modular Sactional couches are renowned for their longevity and mix-and-match customization that customers keep with them through different stages of life.

"There will always be gold in those hills because there are so few people willing to go the distance."

“People joke around: Get a divorce, split your Sactionals in half; get married, add on; have kids, add on,” he told BOSS. “My Sactionals are older than my children.”

It’s all part of a philosophy that Nelson thinks will bring sustained success not just to his company, but to the notion of conscious capitalism.

“We hope to be a player in driving the movement, very intentionally, for people to think about buying better stuff so they can buy less stuff.”

Designed for Life

If Nelson can convince people to think differently about the things they buy, consumer behavior will change. When that happens, other businesses will follow suit.

“CEOs chase consumers, and if consumers want it, CEOs will build it,” he said.