Third of beds FR-safe
Remainder expected soon
David Perry -- Furniture Today, November 8, 2005
HIGH POINT -- Roughly one-third of the U.S. bedding industry has committed to fire-resistant mattress lines, and the balance is expected to follow in the next year or so.
The latest development was the announcement at the October High Point market that Sealy has converted its high-end Stearns & Foster line to an FR construction. Sealy also said that its new Posturepedic SpringFree latex line will include FR materials, as will its visco-core specialty sleep models. Significantly, the industry’s largest player said it intends to launch all new products in 2006 and beyond with FR materials. Sealy is expected to introduce its new flagship Posturepedic line in the first half of next year. The introduction of an FR-protected Posturepedic line could be the event that triggers other majors to follow suit, bedding observers suggest.All bedding produced for sale in California this year must meet that state’s stringent open-flame flammability standard. California accounts for about 11% of the mattresses sold in the United States.Stearns & Foster and two other major brands that have added open-flame protection to all of their national bedding lines — Tempur-Pedic and Serta — accounted for about 24% of total industry shipments last year. Assuming they have that market share in states other than California, the total national percentage of mattresses sold with FR protection comes to nearly one third.Some other producers also are shipping some FR lines to national and regional bedding retailers, and more are planned for the near future.Tim Oakhill, senior vice president of marketing at Simmons, said that producer will incorporate FR materials in all of the full product lines it launches. Simmons is expected to roll out new product lines next year.“Our dealers have asked us to retain our current lines on their floors,” Oakhill said. “We will honor that. Our dealers feel we have a lot of strength in our product lines right now.”Jim Nation, president of Spring Air, said that producer is planning to introduce its national FR lines sometime before the implementation of a federal standard, which is expected to go into effect in the first quarter of 2007.Together the industry’s Big Four — Sealy, Simmons, Serta and Spring Air — account for almost 60% of all bedding shipments.
-
Third of beds FR-safe
Nov 20, 2005
Featured Company
-
FurnitureCore.com
FurnitureCore.com is a dynamic web application aimed at the furniture industry. Retailers and manufacturers alike will find our deep reserve of tools to be exactly what their furniture business needs.www.furniturecore.com... more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
