This shoe rack is a natural untreated plywood material.  When we opened the package there was a musty smell but there wasn't any mould on the wood itself (I presume it has been sitting in a warehouse for a while before reaching our abode and hadn't been opened in a while).  The product comes in eight pieces that just assemble together like a jigsaw.  You must however be careful as the rack is slightly flimsy (and very light weight) and the pieces need to be gently pushed into place as opposed to brute force which may break the wood.  Its very easy to assemble and it is holding all our shoes pretty well once up! (ours holds either three pairs of adult shoes or four pairs of children's shoes per rack).  Its cheap and cheerful!