Increasing environmental awareness has driven a shift in furniture production from traditional materials, such as wood and wood-based panels, to sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives, such as natural-fiber-reinforced (NFR) composites. Environmental consciousness has become a key factor in both production and consumer choices, with growing demand for sustainably sourced materials, eco-friendly manufacturing processes, and durable furniture that helps reduce the impact of disposable products on the environment. This paper analyzes various requirements for natural-fiber-reinforced polymer composites used in furniture applications, including performance, structural–functional, ecological, economical, and safety requirements. It discusses factors influencing the performance of composite materials, such as the selection of matrix and reinforcing fibers, the matrix-to-reinforcement ratio, and the choice of manufacturing technology, as well as the compatibility and bonding between the matrix and fibers. Additionally, several standards commonly used to determine the mechanical, physical, and chemical properties of these materials are presented.

In recent years, the growth of environmental awareness has increased the interest in the development of biocomposites which are sustainable materials with an excellent price–performance ratio and low weight. The current study aimed to obtain and characterize the biocomposites prepared by thermoforming using coir fibres as reinforcing material and polypropylene as matrix. The biocomposites were produced with different coir fibres/polypropylene ratios and were characterized by physical–mechanical indices, thermal analysis, crystallinity, attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis (ATR-FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and chromatic measurements. Both tensile and bending strength of biocomposites decreased when the coir fibre content increased. The melting temperature of biocomposite materials has decreased with the increase of the coir fibre loading. Regarding the thermal stability, the weight loss and degradation temperature increased with decreasing coir fibre content. The ATR-FTIR and SEM analyses underlined the modifications that took place in the structure of the biocomposites by modifying the coir fibres/matrix ratio.