About Bean Bags Definition and History

A bean bag (also beanbag) is a sealed bag containing dried beans, PVC pellets or expanded polystyrene, with various applications. As bean bag games are not apt to cause injury, they are referenced in the famous aphorism by the Irish-American politico Finley Peter Dunne that "Politics ain't bean bag."

Bean bag chairs are a popular form of furniture made of fabric and filled with small chunks of styrofoam or PVC pellets. They were hugely popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their popularity resumed in the mid 1990s, as companies began selling chairs filled with shredded polyurethane foam, charging a premium for the extra comfort this can provide.

It is also called expanded polystyrene or EPS in the industry.

Today, you can find bean bag chairs in many sizes, shapes and materials. There are companies who manufacture bean bag chairs with washable, removable fabric covers. And there are some who use urethane foam as filler … a material that provides durable, substantial support.

The diameter of the bead that goes into the bean bag does vary from about 3-9 mm, however you can now also purchase micro-bead which is 1 - 3 mm in diameter. After a couple of years use, the beans within a bean bag will become compressed and comfort will be reduced. One can generally obtain smaller bags of refill to top them up. As its popularity grew, many furniture manufacturers added bean bag chairs to their lines, each incorporating their own unique elements to the design. In the 1990’s, as the world of fashion made “what was old is now new", bean bag chairs evolved from “cheap furniture" to “comfortable, casual seating designed to meet a variety of needs".