Every semester, thousands of students move into and out of university cities across Sweden. Apartments are emptied, furniture is abandoned, and perfectly usable items are thrown away simply because students lack the time, transportation, or resources to resell them.
For JIBS students Sebastian Diamantino and Arseni Kazlouski, this was not just an inconvenience, it was a major sustainability problem.
That realization led to the creation of Second Selection, a student-focused second-hand furniture platform designed to make furnishing apartments more affordable, convenient, and environmentally sustainable.
Founded in November 2025, Second Selection buys, sells, delivers, and picks up second-hand furniture for students in Jönköping, with the goal of reducing furniture waste while making student life easier.
A Business Built Around Sustainability
While affordability and convenience are key parts of the business, sustainability sits at the very center of Second Selection’s mission.
After researching the furniture industry, the founders were shocked by the amount of waste generated every year through mass-produced furniture.
“We realized that the furniture industry works very similarly to fast fashion,” Sebastian explains. “Furniture is mass-produced around trends, and when those trends change, huge amounts of perfectly usable furniture end up in landfills.”
The founders discovered that furniture waste is one of the largest contributors to reusable household waste globally, especially in university cities where students move frequently between apartments.
“In student cities, people are constantly moving in and moving out,” says Arseni. “A lot of students buy furniture for one or two years and then simply throw it away because selling it becomes too difficult.”
Second Selection aims to break that cycle by extending the lifespan of furniture and making second-hand shopping more attractive, accessible, and practical.
“We wanted to create a system where students could furnish their apartments sustainably without sacrificing convenience or quality,” Sebastian says.
Solving the Furniture Waste Problem
The company operates through a simple online platform where students can either buy or sell furniture.
Students moving out can upload pictures of their furniture, provide basic details, and receive an offer directly from Second Selection. Once an agreement is made, the company picks up the furniture directly from the apartment at the student’s own convenience.
Instead of having to coordinate with multiple buyers through Facebook Marketplace, students can sell everything at once in a quick and stress-free process.
For students moving in, Second Selection offers an easier and more affordable alternative to buying brand-new furniture.
Rather than spending thousands at large furniture retailers, students can purchase cleaned, high-quality second-hand furniture and have it delivered directly to their apartment free of charge.
The founders describe the concept as combining “Facebook Marketplace pricing with IKEA-level convenience.”
Making Sustainability Easy
One of the biggest challenges with sustainable consumption is convenience. Even students who want to shop second-hand often struggle with transportation, delivery, or finding matching furniture across multiple sellers.
“You might find a couch in one part of the city and a table somewhere else,” Arseni explains. “Then you need to organize transportation, coordinate pickup times, maybe rent a van, and for many students that just becomes impossible.”
Second Selection removes those barriers entirely.
Students can browse furniture in one place, visualize items in their apartments through the company’s augmented reality feature, and furnish entire spaces without worrying about transportation or logistics.
The founders believe this convenience is key to making sustainable shopping mainstream among students.
“If sustainability is difficult, people often won’t choose it,” Sebastian says. “We want sustainable furniture shopping to feel easier than buying new.“
Quality Over Quantity
Another important part of the company’s sustainability philosophy is encouraging longer-lasting furniture use.
Unlike many second-hand platforms, Second Selection does not accept damaged or heavily worn furniture. Every item is carefully cleaned, inspected, and prepared before being sold again.
“We only sell furniture that we ourselves would genuinely be happy to have in our own homes,” says Arseni.
The company has invested in professional cleaning equipment to ensure customers receive furniture in excellent condition, helping remove the stigma often associated with second-hand products.
The founders believe that making second-hand furniture feel modern, clean, and desirable is an important step toward changing consumer habits.
Building a Sustainable Student Community
For Sebastian and Arseni, Second Selection is not just about selling furniture, it’s about helping build a student community that contributes to a more circular campus ecosystem.
“We want students to feel proud about furnishing their apartments second-hand,” Sebastian says. “You can save money, reduce waste, and still create a space that feels personal and high quality.”
The company also offers trade-in systems, allowing students to exchange old furniture for store credit toward new items, further extending product lifecycles and reducing unnecessary waste.
Looking Beyond Jönköping
Although the startup is currently focused on Jönköping, the founders believe the idea has strong long-term potential because the problem exists in student cities everywhere.
“Students all over the world face the same challenges,” Sebastian explains. “They move often, they’re usually on tight budgets, and furniture waste becomes a huge issue because of that.”
Their long-term goal is to expand the concept into other student cities across Sweden and eventually internationally.
For now, however, the focus remains on building a strong foundation in Jönköping and helping students make more sustainable choices one apartment at a time.
“We want to make student life easier, more affordable, and more sustainable,” Sebastian says. “That’s what Second Selection is all about.”
So if you´re moving in, moving out or simply just looking to spruce up your living space a little bit, check out the Second Selection website: https://secondselection.se
Writer: Loreleigh Mostert
