First FR law on books
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, January 23, 2005
Sacramento, Calif. — California's new mattress flammability law, which went on the books this month, will add fire-resistant protection to about 10% of all mattresses sold in the country.
According to Furniture/Today Market Research and Easy Analytic Software, retail bedding sales in California last year totaled $1.1 billion — 11% of U.S. mattress sales. California is the top state in bedding, just as it is in furniture.
All bedding produced on or after Jan. 1, 2005 and sold in California must meet the state's stringent new mattress open flame standard, which calls for the bed to pass a 30-minute burn test. A new law label says the bedding meets the requirements of the new FR standard and includes the month and year of manufacture.
Bedding producers have estimated that the addition of that FR protection will add $50 to $100 to the retail cost of a queen-sized sleep set.
Serta is the only bedding major to introduce FR protection into bedding lines sold nationwide, which it did last year. Others are making FR bedding available outside California to retailers who request it.
Airbed producer Select Comfort, also the largest U.S. bedding retailer, began offering FR protection in California on Jan. 1. It added the protection to a Sleep Number bed featuring a "carefully selected fire-resistant border wrap that will not change the external appearance of the mattress nor compromise the benefits of our innovative Sleep Number technology for personalized comfort," said Jim Gifft, vice president of research and development.
He said that model is available to the company's customers in California and as an option for customers in all other states. The new FR models will incur a surcharge of $50 for twin and full sizes, $100 for queen and king sizes, and $150 for the company's grand king size, he said.
Tempur-Pedic, the fast-growing producer and retailer of visco-elastic mattresses, began shipping California FR-compliant beds to the state last October and will make its FR models available in other markets, said David Fogg, president of the company's retail division.
So far, he said, consumers in California aren't saying much about the new law. "Consumers do not seem to be aware of or comment upon the California regulations," he said.
California's new open flame mattress standard is the first such regulation in the nation. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is proposing a federal open flame standard that is similar to the California standard, but more stringent. The federal standard is expected to go into effect sometime next year.
The California Bureau of Home Furnishings, which developed the California standard, says in a consumer education sheet that open-flame-resistant beds and futons "are designed to resist ignition, giving potential victims time to recognize fire danger and escape. They are not fireproof. Other bedding products, such as comforters and pillows, contain highly flammable foam. Be sure to maintain good fire safety in your home."
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First FR law on books
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