Branch recalls 16,000 ergonomic office chairs after backrests detach during use

The maker of a popular line of home-office ergonomic chairs is telling roughly 16,000 customers in the United States to stop sitting in them immediately, after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said the chairs' backrests can come loose and detach without warning. The recall, covering chairs sold under the Branch Furniture brand, was posted to the CPSC's public recall database this month and has been circulating widely among consumer-news outlets this week as owners search for their model numbers.

Bureau Office Inc., the New York company that does business as Branch, told regulators that a batch of its height-adjustable ergonomic chairs left an overseas factory with backrest anchors that were not properly installed. When the anchor fails, the backrest can separate from the seat frame while someone is sitting in it, creating what the agency's notice describes as a fall hazard.

The numbers

About 16,000 of the chairs were sold in the United States, with an additional 180 units sold in Canada, according to the CPSC filing. The affected units were manufactured in Thailand between September 10, 2025, and April 22, 2026, and sold from December 2025 through July 2026 for between $320 and $350 apiece. Branch has logged 11 reports of backrests detaching in normal use. No injuries have been reported so far.

"The backrests of the chairs can detach, posing a fall hazard to consumers," the recall notice states.

The recall covers 16 separate SKUs spanning eight color options — including black, pebble, sand, graphite, light blue, poppy and baltic — in both the company's V5 and V6 chair frames, with either a standard base or a knock-down base. Canadian regulators issued a matching notice for the smaller number of units sold north of the border, describing the same anchor defect.

How a factory shortcut became a nationwide recall

Branch built its business selling directly to remote and hybrid workers furnishing home offices, positioning its ergonomic chairs as a mid-priced alternative to premium office-furniture brands, and expanding into big retail partners as demand for home workstations stayed elevated well after the pandemic-era office exodus. The chairs at the center of the recall were sold not only on the company's own site but through some of the country's largest furniture and general retailers, a distribution footprint that widened the pool of consumers now checking their chairs against a model list.

According to Branch's account to regulators, the backrest is meant to be secured to the seat frame by three anchor points. On the affected units, one or more of those anchors was not installed correctly at the factory, a defect that would not necessarily be visible to a buyer unboxing the chair but that surfaced only once the chair was in daily use. The company began fielding complaints of backrests coming loose and, after reviewing the reports with federal regulators, agreed to a formal recall rather than a quiet fix.

Who is affected

The chairs were sold at BranchFurniture.com, Amazon, West Elm, the Container Store and Office Depot, among other retailers, making the affected population largely home-office workers and small businesses that furnished their spaces during the sales window. Consumers can identify a recalled unit by the SKU printed on the underside of the seat, beneath the cushion, which will begin with a code such as 11-01-00-50 followed by a version number. A regional television report from NBC Montana and a summary from Medical Daily both note that the recall was paired, in the same week's CPSC batch, with unrelated recalls of Bluetooth speakers and other household products, a reminder that federal regulators post several dozen such notices in an average month.

• Roughly 16,000 chairs recalled in the U.S.; 180 more in Canada
• 16 SKUs across 8 colors and two frame versions (V5 and V6)
• 11 reports of backrest detachment; zero injuries reported
• Sold for $320–$350 from December 2025 through July 2026

What consumers should do now

The CPSC's standard guidance for a fall-hazard recall of this kind is to stop using the product immediately, and Branch is telling customers the same thing while it processes replacement parts. Owners are asked to check the SKU on the bottom of the seat, then contact the company through its dedicated recall information page or by emailing [email protected]. The recall is listed under CPSC recall number 26-735, and consumers who prefer to go through the federal agency directly can also reach the CPSC's consumer hotline at 800-638-2772 (TTY 800-638-8270), staffed from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays. The company is sending free replacement backrests, along with three new bolts, an Allen key and installation instructions, at no cost. Consumers must first submit photos of the manufacture label and, once a replacement ships, are instructed to disable the old backrest — the company recommends cutting into it — before discarding it, so it cannot end up back in circulation second-hand.

A brief write-up from Home News Now notes that replacement kits are shipping within one to three business days of a customer's eligibility being confirmed, and that Branch has not asked customers to return the full chair, only the defective backrest component. The CPSC continues to accept incident reports related to the recall through its consumer complaint portal, and the agency's toll-free hotline remains open for anyone unsure whether a chair purchased through a third-party retailer falls within the recalled date range. For now, the agency and the company are treating the fix as straightforward: a part swap rather than a full product return, though owners are advised not to resume using an affected chair until the new backrest is installed.