If you haven’t felt bombarded with work-from-home content already – what exactly are you doing? While many companies are busy crafting messaging and helpful tips for our no-clear-end-in-sight, work-from-home circumstances due to COVID-19, a few companies out there are poised to help on a much more practical level.
If you find yourself working from home sans the perfect office setup, meet Fernish, a furniture rental company intent on revolutionizing the way people interact with home furnishings.
Fernish cofounders Michael Barlow and Lucas Dickey linked up to start the new biz in 2017. After working in finance at JP Morgan in NYC, Barlow moved to L.A. to take a job at a tech media company. Like many people his age, he moved four times in five years, with three sets of roommates. Around that time, he began dating a woman in Chicago, and after trying to convince her to move to L.A. full-time, she said that moving and searching for and setting up a whole new apartment in a new place was too stressful. A lightbulb went off for Barlow – why wasn’t there a Rent-The-Runway service economy for furniture?
“The rest of your life adapts to you so easily, so why doesn’t your living situation? pointed out Barlow, Fernish CEO, in an officeinsight interview. “This is a massive point of friction in our lives – moving and setting up somewhere new. Instead of being an exciting thing to invest in, the buying, moving, selling and storing of furniture is more of a pain point for many people.”
2½ years later, Fernish is growing, in both L.A. and Seattle, with plans to expand to new cities in 2020. (and Barlow’s girlfriend moved to L.A., and they’re now married).
As Fernish tells it: “As typical urban professionals, our founders – Michael and Lucas – loved the idea of moving: new home, new city, new job, new roommates, new furniture. But they didn’t love the reality: The expense and hassle of moving existing furniture that might not match their new place, creating waste by kicking cheap furniture to the curb, or spending free weekends shopping for new furniture.”
“After working together at another Los Angeles based startup, Michael and Lucas realized they had more than moving in common. They shared an entrepreneurial spirit and a belief that they could flip the home furnishings industry on its head in a sustainable fashion that fits the way we live today.”
“We try to keep it as easy as possible – an easy button for your home,” said Barlow.
Customers can go to the Fernish website, then select the type of rooms and furnishings they need. Within a week, Fernish then delivers, assembles and arranges all of it as part of a standard white glove service – all for free.
Each customer selects the flexible monthly payment plan that works for them, from 3-12 months, and they have the option to swap things out or purchase any of the pieces they have – never paying over the retail price. The service requires a minimum monthly payment of $99, which comes out to an average of 8-9 items.
If a customer moves, Fernish will move the Fernish pieces for free, or the customer can simply stop renting it, and Fernish will remove it for free.
“We price the moving costs into our monthly payment plan, so you don’t ever have to worry about that side of things,” noted Barlow. “That requires a pretty substantial technology layer around the specifics of the things we carry and where everything is.”
Fernish offers pieces that fall into three style categories – industrial loft, midcentury modern, and boho chic. In addition to offering name brands like Crate & Barrel, CB2, and Detroit-based Floyd, Fernish also has an in-house brand.”
“A lot of our product comes from our own supply chain, and that network is very important to our business. But, we also have really strong relationships with our outside partners as well – Crate & Barrel, CB2 and the guys at Floyd, who have become great friends.”
Fernish offers furnishings for the living room, dining room, office and bedroom, as well as décor, accessories and outdoor pieces. Customers can create their own ensembles from scratch, or select an already curated room. Each item is priced individually, and anything can be swapped in our out to suit the customer’s exact needs.
“We have a lot of modularity built into the solutions we offer, and we reuse and replace things, so we’re not going to have items like a white linen sofa or soft/fake woods that won’t hold up,” Barlow noted.
Barlow said they’re excited to see what new partnerships might come their way, but they’re laser-focused on bringing more awareness to their brand, what its capabilities are, and why furniture rental fits into people’s lives, young adults in particular.
We asked Barlow how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Fernish’s business.
“It’s radically transformed how we operate in our delivery services, and as a logistics provider. We now have a litany of new protocols and safety measures in place. Even though it’s already a no-contact delivery, we also now make sure everyone involved on both ends in feeling healthy. That type of communication has become critical for us.”
Barlow also said he thinks the virus has created time for people to reevaluate what their home base looks and feels like.
“People are saying, ‘This is what my home environment looks and feels like?’” A lot of homes need to be refreshed, but the office environment in particular could be non-existent in the home. And we don’t know how long the virus will keep everyone in their homes for, and how long they might need certain furnishings for. Fernish gives you the opportunity to try things out and see what really works for you without a large personal investment upfront.”
“It’s a really strange time, and we’re excited to be able to offer something helpful and valuable to people who need it.”
There’s also a sustainable element to what Fernish is doing. Toting a “fast furniture is out” mentality, the company aims to promote using and investing in quality furniture that is made to last, and moving away from “fast” furniture – “cheaply made, self-assembled furniture that you’re forced to throw away” after limited use. In 2018, Fernish reported keeping 75 tons of furniture away from the landfill, stopped 503 metric tons of CO2 from entering the environment, and eliminated 200 days worth of furniture assembly.
Barlow said the company’s goal is to be in as many of the top 20 metro cities in the U.S. in the next three-to-five years.
“We want to raise awareness about our brand – about the possibilities here. Early adulthood is a difficult time to make a lot of permanent, expensive decisions, and buying furniture and settling into a new home are both perfect examples of that. We want to show that we’re going to move with you.”
Best of luck to the Fernish team, and we hope to see them in new cities soon!
