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FR solutions draw growing interest at expo

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, April 28, 2006

San Antonio — Suppliers of fire-resistant mattress materials say smaller and medium-sized bedding producers are approaching the mattress flammability issue with a growing sense of urgency.

That's not unexpected. A federal mattress flammability standard goes into effect in July 2007, but FR suppliers say a number of bedding producers still have much ground to cover on the road to compliance.

Those were some of the key points that emerged from the International Sleep Products Assn. Expo held here last month, the last such supplier show before the federal flammability standard goes on the books.

As such, it gave bedding producers and FR suppliers a good opportunity to check in with one another on compliance plans.

John Dottore, corporate accounts manager for new business development at DuPont's Advanced Fibers Systems unit, offered this assessment of where the industry stands: "The larger producers have been on a path and continue on it. For the medium-level players, we're seeing a higher level of interest — more of a sense of urgency. They are renewing their FR programs.

"The smaller players are accelerating the educational awareness process."

He said the smaller bedding producers know the federal standard, approved by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in February, "is a done deal" and are "starting down the path" toward compliance. But, he cautioned, "They are on the front end of the learning curve."

Dottore said some of those producers are likely to ramp up their FR programs in the fourth quarter of this year, and may be shooting to comply with the federal standard as it goes into effect next summer.

But if too many producers wait too long, he said, testing labs will be strained to meet the demands placed on them. And some producers could be underestimating how long it will take to produce compliant mattresses, Dottore suggested.

Tom Taylor, manager of the bedding business for Western Nonwovens, a leader in the FR materials category, said Western is giving its customers the information they need to comply with the new federal standard.

"There is widespread recognition that compliance is imminent," Taylor said. "There is a recognition of the difficulty of compliance, that it is more than just passing the burn test. It is also record keeping and prototyping."

Frank Kelly, director of sales for consumer fire-retardant products at Elk Technologies, who has been a fixture at industry events for several years, said the ISPA Expo showed that the industry is taking mattress flammability more seriously.

"This year, as compared to past years, the attendees talked more about FR," he said. "They brought it up. Last year, they may have said that (compliance) is a long way off. This year they initiated the conversations."

Kelly said that FR solutions based on the inherent FR properties of certain materials "are preferred" in the industry. Elk offers those types of solutions, he said.

Freudenberg Nonwovens, whose FR products are marketed by Hickory Springs, showcased its full range of FR solutions at the ISPA show. The line includes several Celestia products, and Evolon FR ticking.

"There is a new awareness in the industry that there is a new dimension (mattress flammability) that they need to look at," said Ashutosh Karnik, market manager of the fire barriers team at Freudenberg. "The CPSC dictum is pretty detailed. It's important that the smallest of the small producers understand it."

He said Freudenberg is helping producers understand the complexities of the new law. "Producers are looking at us as expert consultants," Karnik said.

Freudenberg got a good response at the ISPA show to the "value propositions" it is offering, he said.

Cortina Fabrics, which offers a variety of FR solutions incorporating Alessandra fabrics with Basofil fibers, saw a number of new bedding producers of all sizes at the ISPA show, said Nathan Dry, the company's director of technical fabrics.

"Everybody is making a plan," Dry said. "Producers who are not already complying with the mattress flammability standard in California (which went into effect last year) will be deciding shortly what they will do.

"They will be picking out the products that they will be testing."

Among the products offered by Cortina is a tubular, knitted sleeve of FR fabric that fits over foam mattress cores and is then sealed.

The company's FR product line offers inherent FR properties, Dry said.

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