When it comes to shopping for mattresses, there are a lot of different factors to consider. The deeper into your search you go, the more terms you start to see pop up frequently. One term that you'll see a lot, as it's a very hot topic in the mattress market right now, is "fiberglass". In particular the use of fiberglass in the making of mattresses and how it can be hazardous.
Fiberglass is a material that is mainly used in a mattress’s fire barrier. Mattresses are held to a certain standard when it comes to flame retardancy. This means to be sold, a mattress needs to meet certain standards ensuring that they can resist and hold up when they are exposed to open flames. The test they set up for mattresses to pass is pretty on the nose. Can your mattress hold up after 70 seconds of exposure from a blow torch? If it can last this amount of time without catching on fire, your mattress passes! This was set by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2007. So with this pretty intense standard mattresses have to meet, cheap alternatives to help make mattresses less flammable were added. Enter fiberglass.
Now, why is fiberglass a bad thing?
Well, first of all, it can get everywhere. Fiberglass in mattresses will be kept on the inside of the mattress cover. However, fiberglass is made up of what looks like thousands of tiny shreds of plastic. The pieces can be long and in turn, they can poke out of your mattress cover and cause fraying or damage. Fiberglass also has a nasty tendency of shattering. Meaning even smaller pieces can be lost or spread.
If you get a leak in your mattress or the shards rip their way through the cover it can mean bad news for the person sleeping on top of the mattress. Not only do you have to worry about the pieces of fiberglass you can see, you need to be aware that fiberglass can produce miniscule particles invisible to the human eye that can be breathed in by us and clogging can even cause harm to HVAC systems.
Fibgerlass is not something that human beings want to be breathing in. It is hazardous to human health and can be a costly trip to the doctor. Health issues aside, cleaning up a fiberglass spill is also a timely and expensive issue. Due to the appearance of fiberglass and the way it can become airborne, it is extremely difficult to clean it up properly.
At Bear, when we were building our mattresses, one of the most important factors we considered was how to create a mattress that is safe for our sleepers. Fiberglass-free mattresses were the only option forward. So if Bear doesn’t use fiberglass in its mattresses, what does it use instead?
Instead of spraying on fire retardant chemical sprays, we ensure all Bear mattresses are fire safe and fiberglass free by using fire resistant fabric quilted into the mattress panels or by
casing our foam in high quality fire retardant socks. The fabric used for both are made from a blend of non-woven hydrated silica, rayon, polyester, and cotton.
The use of hydrated silica usually causes some level of confusion with consumers. Hydrated silica is not fiberglass. Hydrated silica is a compound that forms about 12% of the earth's
surface, found in nature as opal. Yes, opal –the iridescent gemstone you’re probably thinking of. Hydrated silica has a long history of safe use as an ingredient in food products and is listed by
the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to be Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS).
Hydrated silica is the primary ingredient in modern toothpaste and used as a stabilization treatment for the production of beer.
Additionally, all of Bear’s mattresses are GREENGUARD Gold Certified, CERTI-PUR Certified and vegan! We also offer numerous accessories that are made with certified clean materials such as our Talalay Latex Pillows.
Our Arizona Dream Factory, where all of Bear's mattresses are produced, does not have any fiberglass in the facility to ensure the cleanest made mattresses possible.
BRAND NEW AT BEAR!
Bear is proud to offer our brand new Bear Natural Mattress. Built with GOTS certified organic cotton yarn, the Natural offers a soft feel that's highly breathable and crafted with a 100% natural Talalay latex. This mattress ticks all the boxes. It has an advanced coil system for enhanced lumbar support, spine alignment and edge-to-edge support. The Bear Natural is where comfort meets clean without any sacrifices.
