It's hard to believe that Herman Miller's Aeron chair is now some 13 years old, acknowledged as the best known office chair ever, is it still the best choice of quality chair today?
In this article we consider whether the Aeron is still worthy of top chair status and which other chairs are challenging for the top seating product.
When the Aeron was introduced in 1994 it really did change the face of office seating quite radically.
Put down by some critics as ugly, it managed to rise above its detractors and is seen today as a classic and winner of numerous design awards.
So what is it about the Aeron that makes it so radically different to its competitors and are these features really that different?
Probably the biggest single point of difference with the Miller Aeron is the upholstery or Pellicle. The old form of upholstery with padded foams finished in either fabric or leather had been around for ever and it's credit to Herman Miller for devising a new way looking at office seat upholstery.
From this came the revolutionary pellicle, a unique form of open mesh upholstery that effectively replaced the need for padding as its strength and durability eliminated the need for conventional seat and back pad framing, foam and fabric.
Here was a material that was able to move to support the user's body but at the same time have the ability to return to its original shape when not in use and not become distorted or lose its shape.
The pellicle brought about the introduction of the mesh office chair concept as competitors tried to fight back and this has become a very popular product these days.
However, a lot of this mesh upholstery doesn't have the same qualities as Miller's pellicle, which continues to set the standard for this form of upholstery.
The other key difference with the Aeron was the introduction of PostureFit in 2001.
The design team at Herman Miller worked closely with a leading back care specialist, Dr Brock Walker, to perfect the PostureFit concept.
They were aware that the vast majority of office chairs gave insufficient support to the base of the spine, the area below the belt line.
They designed a support system that gave proper support to the user's pelvic region and by doing so ensured that the spine and back is automatically correctly aligned and supported when using an Aeron fitted with the PostureFit mechanism.
Nearly all other office chairs attempt to do this by the use of lumbar supports which when used correctly encourages the user's back and spine to maintain its proper posture or lordosis as it is technically known.
The problem with this method is that the user needs to ensure that they are sitting with their back firmly resting on the support. It is too easy to sit incorrectly by being too far forward in the chair. With the Miller method it does make it easier to sit properly as it encourages the balance of your weight to rest against butterfly pad of the PostureFit.
On the downside, PostureFit isn't a standard feature and costs more. Fortunately, it is relatively simple to add the accessory to your chair later. Given the choice though, it's best to have it at the outset.
The other drawback with the Aeron is that it does take quite a bit of setting up initially to get everything exactly right for the individual user. Consequently, it's not really a chair that can be recommended for sharing with others, unless each user remembers their exact settings and that isn't really very practical to do.
So what have the competition been up to? Well, they haven't just been standing idly by and there are a number of excellent chairs that do offer a serious challenge to the Aeron.
One of the key features that other manufacturers have been keen to develop is the simplification of chair adjustment.
Companies like HÅG of Norway, that has introduced a method of automatic weight adjustment into some of its top level models. Here the user simply needs to lean back into the chair and it automatically self tensions it to suit the person's weight.
The Humanscale Freedom Chair also has its own version of automatic weight compensation to make adjustment as simple as possible.
Steelcase's Leap chair has also proved very popular, even with former Aeron users. Its LiveBack chair back mechanism is designed to change shape to support the entire spine and is an innovative idea.
So, for now the Aeron is still probably the top ergonomic office chair and with over a million units in use world wide will take some knocking off the top spot, in fact it's probably too far ahead now to be caught.
With that said some of its competitors are worthy challengers and do produce chairs of comparable quality, the problem they face is successfully getting their message to potential chair buyers.
If you want to find out more about the Aeron chair and how it can benefit your business and office staff be sure to visit Aeron chair boosts productivity. You will also find a review of the Aeron ergonomic cffice chair here as well as more quality office seating product reviews.
Duncan MacIntyre has 25 years experience in supplying quality Office Seating to corporate clients and can show you how to get the right business seating for your needs.http://www.officechairadvice.com/aeron-chair/
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