I think Jim Gaffigan said it best when it comes to beanbag chairs. In his King Baby special, Gaffigan imagines the pitch meeting for the venerable product.
“Hey you know how people love sitting on beans?”
“Um, not really, but go ahead.”
“Well, it’d be a big bag filled with beans, and we’d add vinyl, so when you were wearing shorts, it would stick to your legs.”
“Do you even work here?”
In my mind, the beanbag chair is a must-have piece of furniture … if you’re 11. Beyond that, you’re guaranteed to look ridiculous sitting in one. It doesn’t take long sitting in a beanbag chair before all the beans will somehow have shifted from underneath your butt, and the only thing separating you from the hard ground is a thin piece of vinyl. And you’re definitely stuck there.
But, with all that said, I’m pretty impressed with the Sumo beanbag chairs. Consider the Sumo the king of the beanbag kingdom. It’s not really fair to all the other beanbag chars to even use that name for these, as there are no beans and no vinyl involved.
Instead, you get shredded polyurethane foam packed inside, resulting in an extremely comfortable sit that’s sure to induce sleepiness if you stay too long. Sumo offers six different designs and sizes, as well as pet beds.
My SumoSac Sultan is the second largest available, measuring 54 x 54 x 42 inches, and the size allows for maximum lounging, which seems rather essential for a product like this. Sure, you can sit upright in it, but why would you want to?
The Sultan’s cover is made of a stylish microsuede, which ensures that it’s easy to clean and attractive enough to accompany your regular living room or bedroom furniture — for the most part. While it’s light years ahead of those old vinyl blobs, the SumoSac still has a tendency to look like a big shapeless mass, especially after someone’s been sitting in it. Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to fluff it back up. Picking it up and shaking it easily redistributes the foam inside.
Article comments
1 - Ryan Hart
Wow, nice review, and if money would allow, you would have convinced me to buy one for my room.
2 - Fran
Very nice review.
Quick note on getting out of a bean bag, particularly for those with bad backs -- roll to your side (onto hands and knees on the floor) and then up. Not very graceful, but you really can't get out of a bean bag gracefully no matter how you do it, so who cares if it saves your back.
I agree about eventually ending up with your butt on the floor when sitting on bean bags! We used to have a couple bean bags -- hmmm, wonder if we still have one packed away somewhere? We really enjoyed them despite their oddities.