The best ergonomic office chairs in Malaysia

Ergonomics in Malaysia wasn’t a real phenomenon until the last decade or so (Ergonomics had already started blowing up in America around the 2000s), and with the added difficulty of WFH, customers are desperate for an answer to their discomfort, but still want to know more than just that.

Before I give you a rundown for the Top 10 best ergonomic chairs in Malaysia, let me outline what are some of the criteria when I compare chairs.

• Whether it actually is considered ergonomic? (Read the full article here)
• The build quality of the chair itself: IE Will it break easily? Will it topple over if you lean too far back?
• What the warranty of the chair is, as this indicates the level of trust the manufacturers have with their products
• The background of the company producing it, or if they are simply placing a lumbar pillow and calling the product ‘ergonomic’ (Looking at you, racing chairs)

I go into more detail at the end of the list, with a short buyer’s guide written with experience in the industry.

Some might say that this is excessive, but I have always been a strong proponent of equipping customers with the right knowledge to make the best decisions. The first step in picking the best ergonomic chair for yourself or your loved ones is understanding why there is such a wide difference in prices between ‘just some chairs’.

1. Herman Miller Aeron chair

The famous Aeron chair, that was originally designed for elderly and infirm people for a wheelchair! The medical nature really revolutionized ergonomics and brought it out of the niche medical field, leading to the Aeron’s chair domination of boardrooms during the Dotcom bubble.

This was the status of luxury for companies, as each chair would cost RM7.2k each. It is the best chair, at the best price. There are other models of the Herman Miller such as the Sayyl, the Embody, but we still feel that the Aeron chair rightfully deserves its place at the top for its patented mesh seating. You would think that all meshes are created equal, but I would point to the Herman Miller and say this is the difference between that RM200 mesh chair as compared to the RM7k Aeron.

You can currently visit and try an Aeron chair at Traxx Furniture Sdn Bhd here.

2. Steelcase Leap Chair

Another strong contender with a 100+ year history of manufacturing chairs, the Steelcase Leap chair is the best chair from Steelcase in recent years. This chair has been winning many awards and accolades with their R&D, making strides in the workspace environment, productivity, healthcare for office workers.

While there are many different models from Steelcase, we personally felt that the Leap Chair was better than the Gesture and the Think chair. Considering this will be a decade long purchase, it would not be something that should be cheap on. Pricing at RM4–5k, it is a good executive chair meant for the classic corporate world while feeling comfortable for long hours in an air-conditioned room.

You can try out a Steelcase Leap chair yourself in their showroom in Bangsar here.

3. Comfpro Truly Chair

Comfpro is actually more famous for its ergonomic tables and ergonomic children’s chairs, having designed ergonomic furniture since 1984, hailing from Taiwan. The firm while being a newcomer to space has produced some good pieces and is engaged in patent research for new ergonomic materials and features.

The Truly chair was the firm’s first venture into the ergonomic office chair space with its flagship Truly Chair (Sometimes known as CP8 in other markets). The chair sold incredibly well in the US and Taiwan, going on to spawn many variants since then, being dubbed as the ‘Herman Miller alternative’ for years since winning the ExgoExpo Choice’s awards for ergonomic chairs back in 2016. The Trufit™ Backrest is the most exciting part of the chair, as Comfpro has guaranteed a lifetime warranty on the quality of the backrest, while also feeling the most cooling out of all the chairs. Price at RM2900+, it is a little less than half the Herman Miller chair.

You can try out the Truly ergonomic chair in Ergoland’s outlet in Selangor or Penang!

4. Duorest Alpha Chair

Duorest has its roots in a German Doctor known as Dr. Matthias Brünig, who first conceptualized a double piece movable backrest, as the movement to the right and left would be using different muscles and therefore require different postures. Manufactured in South Korea with German technology, the Duorest chairs have sometimes earned a reputation of being ‘overly medical’, backed by endorsements from the Singaporean Physiotherapist and Chiropractic Association.

Duorest does have a range of chairs, but words from our customers seem to indicate they really do love the Alpha the most. Customers with back pains or medical conditions such as slipped discs, scoliosis. These customers commonly purchase the Alpha chair, enjoying the firm and complete backrest, akin to 2 hands hugging your back. Priced at RM5000+, this chair is rather specialized at a higher price point, closer to a Steelcase rather than an Aeron chair.

You can try out the Duorest Alpha chair in Ergoland’s outlet in Selangor or Penang!

5. Okomura Contessa II Chair

The Okomura is a Japanese ergonomic furniture developer, with a rather unique history. It has gone from an airplane manufacturer to cars, and finally to furniture in 1970. The Okomura is responsible for the Contessa chair that is sometimes seen in movies (Batman Returns!). Suffice to say, this chair has made a huge name for itself in the US, and in many places outside Japan.

The Contessa II Chair is a continuation of their Contessa chair line, the brand-defining product the same way the Aeron chair is to the Herman Miller brand. It utilizes a full mesh back while having a seating structure rather similar to the Aeron’s chair waterfall seat design, though using a foam-based seating. Currently, it’s priced at RM6000+.

You can try out the Okomura Contessa II chair in the Gardens!

Choosing the right office chair for yourself

I’ve gone through in length what to expect out of ergonomic chairs and the comparison between regular chairs vs ergonomic chairs here. But what’s the difference between ergonomic chairs? What’s the difference between a RM200 chair from Ikea comparatively?

1. The ergonomics of the chair itself

Being a niche specialty shop, people with specific pain points come to find us, and are particular about how they feel in their chair. Just because something is more expensive, does not necessarily mean it’s the best fit for you.

Case in point, despite my initial recommendation for the Alpha chair, the customer said that they want something that has a more pronounced lumbar support, and that’s why they settled on the Truly chair in the end because they enjoy the feeling while sitting.

I would say just as a word of caution: avoid gaming chairs. A gaming chair has a bucket seat design that is not ergonomic (as it was meant for racing) and has lacking lumbar support. You too would feel uncomfortable in the driver’s seat after a few hours. A lumbar pillow does not make a chair ergonomic. This advice also applies to any chair that seems like a straight L shape without any curve or way to have the chair contour to you.

2. The features and build quality of the chair

This is the part where most customers are completely oblivious to. After all, who knows what their cars are actually made from? Some factors to check chairs are the following:

• What is the maximum weight load of the chair?
• When reclining in the chair, does it topple over? If it does, just run out of the store
• Is the fabric material soft and ‘springs back’ once you stand up? Thin/Bad foams will slowly ‘fill’ back up, and long term use can cause heavy discomfort
• Is the chair ‘breathable’? Do you start to feel hot if you’re not in an air-conditioned environment? Chair materials like the Steelcase Leap were made to actually ward off the cold.
• If the chair has mesh, does the mesh feel soft and flexible while maintaining its rigidity? A low-quality mesh can feel very hard as there isn’t enough cotton threaded into it.
• The weight of the chair; generally the ‘heavier it is’ the better, as it uses more material. But there’s a lot of caveats to that**
• That the chair does not ‘creak’ while moving/reclining
• To look at the wheels of the demo chairs, and inspect if it’s been flaking/breaking off, as this can lead to serious stability issues down the future.

It’s rather difficult to discern the actual quality comparison between an 8Z Pelico mesh from Herman Miller and Luxetouch from Okomura, so you rely on simply feeling it yourself. But comparing either chair to an Ikea chair will be immediately noticeable.

3. The warranty and manufacturer

Just like how you feel dazzled by mattress companies that promise a 10-year warranty, the same goes for ergonomic chairs. The longer the warranty, the more the manufacturers have trust in their product.

While the stories of Herman Miller and Steelcase are well known in the business space for their innovation and research, some foreign manufacturers like Comfpro, Duorest, and Okomura, unfortunately, don’t have complete information in English, making them less well known on Google, though they are innovating just as much.

And unless you’re like me and trying to keep up with the news in the ergonomic industry and paying attention to ExgoExpo or other furniture news, trying to get reviews for this article was not simple either. However, just because there aren’t people tagging these products on social media, doesn’t mean these are inferior products, as some of them have warranties to match even an Aeron chair.

Conclusion

As we spend more and more time on our chairs at home, we are starting to realize the difference between a regular chair compared to a purpose-built ergonomic task chair after sitting for a few hours. If you factor in the research, design, and material quality of the chair, it would quickly start to look like it’s not unreasonable.

Imagine a good mattress, easily costing a few thousand and above. Well, we spend the same amount of time as that in our chairs at work, especially now with work from home.