Trex vs. POLYWOOD vs. Highwood vs. Loll Designs Outdoor Furniture

Trex, POLYWOOD, Highwood, and Loll Designs are some of the best all-weather outdoor furniture brands. Read this post to find out which brand has the right patio furniture for your backyard!

Last Updated: August 21, 2023

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When it comes to high-quality recycled plastic outdoor furniture, there are a few brands that really stand out. POLYWOOD, Trex, Highwood, and Loll Designs are all leaders in the industry, and each has its own unique advantages.

But which is the right choice for you? It really depends on your specific needs and preferences. We have tried out all of these brands, and we have compared the key features of outdoor furniture offered by these companies to help you pick the right one for you.

So, if you need a guide to help you make the right pick for you, read this complete breakdown now!

Summary Table

Category	Winner	Explanation
Frame Materials	Tie	All use high-quality all-weather material
Eco-Friendly	Slight edge to POLYWOOD (and Trex)	POLYWOOD uses more recycled material
Warranty	POLYWOOD (and Trex)	POLYWOOD has a 20-year warranty
Shipping & Delivery	POLYWOOD (and Trex)	Free ground shipping for all US-based orders
Return Policy	POLYWOOD (and Trex) and Highwood	30-day return period
Assembly	Tie	All will require some form of assembly
Style and Size Variety	Slight edge to POLYWOOD	Appears to have more style and furniture type options
Price	POLYWOOD	Basic Adirondack chair was cheapest in recent price comparison

Summary

We highly recommend purchasing any product from these brands as these brands make high-quality materials that should last many years in your backyard. Overall, POLYWOOD comes out on top in many of the categories that we evaluated. They offer a wide variety of styles and colors to choose from, and the brand had the best price on the Adirondack chairs that we compared. However, the differences between the four brands are not too great in many of the categories. Ultimately, the key decision point for you may ultimately come down to a preferred style or color of furniture you want for your backyard, which can drive you to a certain brand as not all brands offer a completely similar style or look of furniture.

Why are these Brands So Popular?

There are a few reasons why these brands are so popular, and you may likely have come across them because each of these brands is popular for their Adirondack chairs.

One reason that these brands are popular is that they all use some form of recycled plastic to create their furniture. This is a great way to reduce your environmental impact while still enjoying beautiful, durable patio furniture.

Second, these brands have mastered the art of creating furniture that looks and feels like traditional wood furniture. This means you can get the classic look you love without having to worry about the maintenance and upkeep that comes with real wood.

Finally, and most importantly, all of these brands offer furniture that is built to last due to their high-quality plastic materials. Whether you choose POLYWOOD, Trex, Highwood, or Loll Designs, you can be confident that your furniture will withstand all of the outdoor elements and provide many years of enjoyment.

Brand Overviews

Overall, these four brands boast quality and style that is hard to beat. No matter which brand you choose, you’re sure to enjoy high-quality, recycled plastic outdoor furniture that will last for years to come. With that, let’s take a closer look at each individual brand.

POLYWOOD

POLYWOOD is one of the most well-known brands in the industry, and for a good reason. Their furniture is extremely durable and low-maintenance, perfect for busy families or anyone who wants to enjoy their outdoor space without a lot of hassle. In addition, POLYWOOD furniture is very stylish and comes in a variety of colors and designs to suit any taste.

Their materials are made of recycled HDPE plastic and are designed to withstand all types of weather. You’ll never have to worry about your furniture fading, cracking, or peeling, no matter how hot or cold it gets. And, if you do happen to notice any dirt or debris on your furniture, a simple soap and water solution is all it takes to get it off.

POLYWOOD South Beach 3-Piece Adirondack Chair Set

Trex

Trex is another extremely popular brand known for recycled plastic outdoor furniture.

But there is something very important to know about Trex outdoor furniture: all Trex furniture is manufactured with POLYWOOD lumber, and it is manufactured and sold by POLYWOOD. So you are getting the exact same material that is used in all POLYWOOD furniture. So the real difference between Trex and POLYWOOD furniture comes down to style and price.

Trex Outdoor Furniture Adirondack Chair

Highwood

Highwood has made a name for itself with its high-quality furniture. Their furniture is made from recycled plastic they call poly lumber, and it is extremely durable and weather-resistant.

Highwood was founded in 2004 with the goal of creating environmentally-friendly outdoor furniture. The company has grown steadily since then, and its furniture is now sold all over the world.

Highwood Garden Chair

Loll Designs

In the outdoor furniture industry since 2007, Loll Designs has become one of the popular choices for all-weather outdoor furniture. The brand boasts unique designs that are made from post-consumer recycled milk jugs, which are transformed into a durable material that can withstand any weather conditions. Loll furniture is also 100% recyclable, so you can feel good about your purchase knowing that it won’t end up in a landfill once it’s done serving your family.

Loll Designs Adirondack Chair

Evaluation Criteria

Now that you know a little bit about the brands, let’s take a look at some of the most important features and which brand wins out.

Our evaluation criteria:

Frame Materials: What kind of material is used to make the frame of each brand’s outdoor furniture? How well do these materials withstand weather, and how much maintenance is required?
Eco-Friendly: Is the outdoor furniture made from recycled materials, sustainable practices, or can it be recycled?
Warranty: How long will the company cover any manufacturing defects or issues with your patio furniture?
Shipping and Delivery: Is there an extra charge for shipping and delivery?
Return Policy: Can you return the furniture if you don’t like it?
Assembly: How easy is it to assemble the furniture?
Style and Variety: What kind of style is the furniture? Is there a wide variety of furniture options?
Price: Which brand has the best price?

Frame Materials

Winner: Tie

Reason: POLYWOOD, Trex, and Loll Designs use high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as the frame materials for their furniture, and HDPE is one of the best materials for outdoor furniture (see our pros and cons of HDPE for outdoor furniture). Highwood uses what they call poly lumber, which is also a plastic material. Although we aren’t sure what the exact material is, we have seen that this material performs well like HDPE furniture.

POLYWOOD: All POLYWOOD furniture is made with POLYWOOD lumber, which is made from recycled HDPE materials.
Trex: Trex outdoor furniture is manufactured using POLYWOOD lumber.
Highwood: Highwood labels its frame material as high-grade poly lumber made from a proprietary blend of polymer materials. Specifics beyond that some recycled plastic materials are used to make this poly lumber are not available.
Loll Designs: All Loll Designs furniture is made from HDPE, some of which are derived from recycled HDPE materials.

Maintenance and Care: One very important thing to note about these brands (and something you should investigate on all outdoor furniture purchases) is that furniture from these brands requires very little maintenance. These high-quality materials (e.g. HDPE and poly-lumber) are well-known to withstand outdoor elements all year long. So, you won’t have to worry too much about warping, cracking, or fading due to typical backyard exposures. Any dirt or debris that you find on the furniture can typically be cleaned away with mild soap and water. For any other damages or stains, make sure you refer to the manufacturer’s guidelines.

Eco-Friendly

Winner: Slight edge to POLYWOOD (and Trex)

Reason: POLYWOOD (and Trex as a result of it using POLYWOOD lumber for its furniture) comes out on top in this category because POLYWOOD is made from 99% recycled material. Loll Designs and Highwood use recycled materials too, but it is not clear if they use as much as POLYWOOD.

POLYWOOD: POLYWOOD patio furniture is made from 99% recycled materials, making it a very environmentally friendly option. Not only that, but the company uses many sustainable practices in making its outdoor furniture.
Trex: As stated above, Trex uses POLYWOOD lumber for its furniture, so it has the same eco-friendly characteristics as POLYWOOD.
Highwood: Highwood uses a proprietary blend of polymers, including recycled plastic material, in its patio furniture, but it is unclear how much of the final product is recycled material.
Loll Designs: Loll Designs is a brand dedicated to making eco-friendly furniture, and the company uses some portion of recycled materials in its highly durable HDPE frame material. Additionally, the company uses sustainable practices in creating its furniture, like recycling 88% of its manufacturing waste.

Warranty

Winner: POLYWOOD (and Trex)

Reason: POLYWOOD has an impressive 20-year warranty for residential outdoor furniture. Since Trex is manufactured by and with POLYWOOD, its furniture too has a 20-year warranty

POLYWOOD: POLYWOOD has an industry-leading 20-year warranty for its furniture.
Trex: Since Trex outdoor furniture is made by and with POLYWOOD, it too has a 20-year warranty.
Highwood: Highwood furniture comes in second place with a whopping 12-year warranty for residential use.
Loll Designs: Loll Designs still has a great warranty of 5-years. But compared to others on this list, Loll has the shortest warranty length, even though it is fairly long compared to industry standards.

Shipping & Delivery

Winner: POLYWOOD (and Trex)

Reason: Both POLYWOOD and Trex outdoor furniture offer free ground shipping on all US-based orders.

POLYWOOD: POLYWOOD offers free shipping on all orders in the contiguous United States.
Trex: Since all Trex outdoor furniture is manufactured and fulfilled by POLYWOOD, Trex, too, has free shipping on all orders in the contiguous United States.
Highwood: Highwood offers free shipping on orders over $50.
Loll Designs: Loll Designs has frequent sales where they offer free shipping as well as product discounts. However, in general, their shipping rate to mainland USA is 7% of the total retail cost for FedEx and 25% of the total retail cost for FedEx for shipping to Alaska and Hawaii. They also offer shipping to Canada at 10% of the total retail cost for FedEx shipping.

Please note that if you have Amazon Prime and order from their site, you may get free 2-day shipping on many of these brands, depending on the current supply.

Return Policy

Winner: POLYWOOD, Trex, and Highwood

Reason: All three of these brands offer returns within 30 days.

POLYWOOD: Not only does POLYWOOD offer returns within 30 days of delivery, but the company also arranges for material samples to be sent to a customer – upon customer request – so the customer can get what they want when they order the first time. This is an excellent touch and shows their dedication to customer satisfaction.
Trex: Since Trex is manufactured and shipped by POLYWOOD, it too has a 30-day return window like POLYWOOD furniture.
Highwood: Highwood also offers returns and refunds within 30 days of receipt. If the purchase is returned because the merchandise is damaged, Highwood will pay the cost of shipping.
Loll Designs: Loll Designs offers returns only within 10 days of receiving the purchase. They do not allow returns on discounted items or those purchased from outlet stores or custom orders UNLESS the item is objectively defective. One upside is that Loll Designs does allow you to request material swatches before purchasing, so you can hopefully avoid their return policies.

Please note that if you have Amazon Prime and order from their site, you will likely be subject to Amazon’s return policies.

Assembly

Winner: Tie

Reason: All of these brands will require some type of assembly for their furniture items.

Many of the patio furniture items from these brands will require some type of assembly, meaning that you shouldn’t expect to get these items fully assembled when you unpack them from the box like patio furniture from some other companies. Across these brands, you will also find that each furniture item will come with required assembly components like marine-grade or 304 stainless steel fasteners.

In all, we expect at least 15 minutes to assemble any item from one of these brands. Below are some links to assembly instructions from the brands.

POLYWOOD: https://www.polywood.com/assembly
Trex: https://www.trexfurniture.com/assembly/
Highwood: https://highwood-usa.com/pages/assembly-information
Loll Designs: Rather than offering a dedicated page for assembly instructions, Loll Designs keeps these instructions in a convenient PDF as well as a youtube video on their product page.

Style and Variety

Winner: Slight edge to POLYWOOD

Reason: We give POLYWOOD a very slight edge here because, from our review, this brand offers a wider variety of modern, contemporary, and traditional style furniture. While brands like Loll Designs and Highwood offer a wide variety of outdoor furniture types, the style types are a bit more limited.

POLYWOOD: We find that POLYWOOD has the greatest variety of styles and furniture types. You can find many modern, contemporary, and traditionally styled furniture items like Adirondack chairs, sectionals, sofas, benches, dining tables, and more.
Trex: Trex takes the last spot due to their limited style offerings. They do have a few traditional and contemporary options, but they are not as widely known for their style options.
Highwood: Highwood is known for its variety. The company has both traditional and contemporary furniture. They are also known for their beautiful natural colors, which can be a great addition to any backyard.
Loll Designs: With Loll Designs, you will find many contemporary and modern patio furniture offerings. They are known for their colorful designs, which would be a great addition to any patio or backyard.

Price

Winner: POLYWOOD

Reason: At the time of this writing, POLYWOOD has a lower-priced Adirondack chair compared to the other brands. Trex and Highwood and not too far behind, whereas Loll Designs’ Adirondack chair is significantly higher priced than the other three brands.

It is hard to say conclusively that one brand across the board is better priced than another. So, for this section, we will compare the prices of comparable Adirondack chairs from each brand, as Adirondack chairs are the most popular seating options purchased from these companies.

POLYWOOD: POLYWOOD’s Classic Adirondack chair is priced at $199.
Trex: At the time of writing, Trex’s Cape Cod Adirondack Chair was priced at only $209.
Highwood: Highwood offers their beautiful Essential Adirondack Chair for $279.99 at the time of writing.
Loll Designs: Loll’s most basic Plastic Adirondack Chair (Flat), at the time of writing, was priced at $695:

Final Thoughts

Winner: Slight edge to POLYWOOD

All four of these brands offer great high-quality plastic furniture that should last a very long time in your backyard. You will be hard-pressed to find furniture that can offer better quality and designs than these options. However, since POLYWOOD takes the top spot in several categories, we give the slight edge to POLYWOOD in this comparison.