Our Transparency Journey

This is not a once-off statement, it’s a living document that grows with us.

We’ll keep it updated as we go, sharing what’s working, what’s hard, and what we’re tackling next.

We know putting this out publicly invites scrutiny, and we welcome that. It means committing to better data, smarter supply decisions, fairer practices, and holding ourselves to high standards.

We’ve used data to guide our business from day one, but since March 2025 we’ve also adopted new tools and metrics to back our good business claims with trackable, verifiable data.

So while much of this has long been part of how we work, our transparency journey, and our push for measurable progress, is just beginning.

We believe efficiency breeds sustainability. We want to build an accountable business, one where people love to work, customers are delighted, and exceptional practices are the norm.

Our objective with this policy is to simply be transparent and allow you the opportunity to understand who you are buying into, our team, our commitment, our ethos... welcome. 

Adriaan Louw - Founder and CEO
Our Three Good Business Pillars

Philosophy

We believe in doing business like a decent human being – with honesty, guts and a bit of heart. That means designing furniture that’s actually useful, treating our team like gold, and always choosing the path that feels right, not just profitable.

1a. Business

We believe good business should be honest, human, and a little bit brave. No corporate fluff. Just clear, considered decisions made with care.

Popstrukt started in 2017 with a frustration: design carried a huge price tag, and the rest of what was on offer was underwhelming or cheap … we needed thoughtful, accessible everyday furniture, designed for life. So we built something better - starting with three non-negotiables:

  1. Is it good design?
  2. Does it offer practical storage?
  3. Is it versatile?

From a handful of products, we’ve grown into a functional furniture brand serving homes and workspaces across continents, bringing practical storage and versatile colourplay into everyday life.

Our products are designed in Cape Town, tested in real homes, and built to work hard. That’s what we mean by good design. And that’s what we’ll keep doing, without chasing trends or making promises we can’t back up.

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1b. People

Work should work for people.

We back our team and partners with flexibility, support, and a healthy, human-first environment. That includes fair salaries, room to learn, space to grow, and understanding that life happens.

We care about building a place people want to be, a place where contribution matters, where it’s okay to ask questions, and where shared challenges are part of the process. We’re small, but we’re building well.

Product & Planet

From flat-pack shipping that cuts carbon by up to 70%, to a lifetime parts programme that keeps your furniture out of landfills, we’re all about low waste, high quality, and keeping the planet in mind at every step.

2a. Products

Our furniture exists to serve you in your spaces from home to office. We don’t make stuff for the sake of it. We make useful things, designed with intention and built to last.

What this looks like:

  • Thoughtful, functional design from day one.
  • Warranties, repairs, and a Lifetime Parts Replacement* program
  • Smart, scalable manufacturing to reduce waste
  • Products that are durable and built for life!
  • A manufacturing defect rate of 1.15% (and improving)

Design thinking isn’t just a process - it’s a practice. We test, learn, and build furniture that fits real life.


*Currently available to Popstrukt Pro* partners only.

2b. Planet

We design with efficiency in mind, fewer parts, smarter packaging, longer-lasting materials. We believe efficiency breeds sustainability.

  • Our packaging passes a 1.2m drop test, reducing transit damage to just 0.48% (vs. 5%+ industry avg)
  • Flat-pack format reduces emissions, transport costs, and return waste by up to 70%
  • Steel is endlessly recyclable, and our modular design supports easy part replacement
  • Our Factory Floor program gives imperfect or returned stock a second life
    Product example: The Bon Bon Chest of Drawers has a 10-year carbon footprint of ~52kg CO₂e, that’s 5.2kg/year (same as charging your phone daily).

We’re still learning when it comes to materials like Styrofoam and MDF (both actively used in our packaging), but we’re working on it, and pushing suppliers for better options as we scale.

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OUR OUTLET STORE
The Factory Floor

The Factory Floor is our way of giving Popstrukt pieces another shot and in doing so help create a more sustainable planet.

2c. Waste

We hate waste. Really. This belief fuels our passion for efficiency.

  • Our measured wastage is 0.0001% — and dropping.*
  • Damaged parts are upcycled or resold through Factory Floor
  • Most of our units are flat-packed, which cuts shipping waste by up to 70%
  • Flat-pack also makes our products easier to repair, store, move, and recycle

We’d rather reuse than start from scratch. That’s good for business, and better for the planet.

*percentage of material/parts wastage in relation to total sales in South Africa.

Process

We know who makes our furniture (and we like them). We work closely with our manufacturing partners to make sure everything’s built responsibly, ethically and beautifully – with strict quality checks, fair treatment, and long-term partnerships that are more solid than our powder-coated steel.

3a. Supply Methodology

We’ve built our supply chain with care.

We actively work with third party suppliers, but we can tell you this, we know who makes our products, where they’re made, and how they’re made.

  • We visit all our major suppliers
  • All major suppliers must be open to and pass external audits (BSCI, SMETA, ISO9001/14001/45001)
  • We don’t accept violations of internationally recognised labour rights.

We’ve got more work to do, but we’re building the tools and processes to get better as we grow.

3b. Manufacturing

We work closely with our suppliers, building long-term relationships, investing in quality, and constantly improving our standards.

  • We invest in tooling, mold and training for long-term consistency in product development and scale efficiency.
  • We aim for a defect threshold under 1% (currently 1.15%)
  • Many Popstrukt pieces use 40 - 60 custom molds - a costly detail that matters when you’re building something well.

We’re proud of our manufacturing relationships, especially the partners in China who’ve helped us deliver on our vision, piece by piece.

3c. Partners

We’re not in this alone.

Over 90% of our manufacturing happens in China, a result of 8 years of consistent partnership. These are not quick-fix vendors; they’re factories we’ve worked with, learned from, and grown alongside.

Good business means working with great people. We take that seriously.

Progress Over Perfection

Popstrukt is about practical solutions, thoughtful design, and doing things better not just in the products we make, but in the systems we build and the people we back.

Thanks for challenging us, holding us to a high standard, and helping us grow.