Does Amerisleep Use Fiberglass? It isn’t Very Transparent about Materials

Amerisleep is one of the most popular bed-in-a-box mattress brands on the web. The brand is recommended by many mattress review websites, especially the review websites owned and/or invested in by Amerisleep’s parent companies.

However, Amerisleep was never very transparent with me since I started asking about fiberglass since 2020. I had written them off as deceptive for quite a while, and this article explains why I will continue to consider them a brand to be wary of.

Amerisleep Initially said its Fire Sock was just Rayon

When first contacted, Amerisleep would only say it used a Greenguard Fire Sock made of rayon. However, it would not divulge how the flame barrier passed flammability testing without FR chemicals or silica.

It’s worth noting that Amerisleep also stated that its GreenGuard Fire Sock did not use “harmful chemicals”, but it did not state that NO chemicals were used.

The fact that Amerisleep wouldn’t be straight with me about its flame barrier made me write them off as deceptive, and I would not recommend its mattresses.

Amerisleep then Rumored to have Silica in its Rayon

Two years after my initial questioning, I started seeing other sources online state that Amerisleep used silica in its flame barrier.

Right around the same time, Amerisleep contacted me asking for a more prominent placement on my fiberglass free mattress page. At that time, Amerisleep was listed on my page with an affiliate link as most likely fiberglass-free, but deceptive, and very far down the page.

I decided to use my reply to that email as a way to dig for more information.

My email asking Amerisleep for more information about its silica use was ignored.

I decided to ask Amerisleep about silica in its website livechat, and I this is what I was told:

“So it is going to be made with an amorphous silica.. a bit different than hydrated silica, it can handle heat a bit better than hydrated or crystalline silica. That will be a woven silica as well.. Fiberglass is very dangerous to breathe in, so we don’t use fiberglass at all.”

The Amerisleep chat representative said they would send more information to my email address. Soon after, I received an email that said this:

“Hello, I’ve included pictures of an example law tag as well as the firesock. Unfortunately I can’t show a physical example of the layers as that would require removing the firesock, but I have included an example picture of that as well. I have also given you links to more in depth knowledge and resources.” -Amerisleep

These are the images that Amerisleep representative sent to me:

While there are rayon fabrics with silica added to the viscose during the manufacturing process, known as inherently fire-resistant rayon or visil rayon, Amerisleep wouldn’t confirm if this was the case for its product. Because Amerisleep would not disclose more information, or the supplier of its fire-retardant material, I could no longer safely promote them as a fiberglass-free mattress maker since fiberglass is also made from “amorphous silica”.

Once Amerisleep said it used “woven silica”, and I saw the image of its fire sock in the email, I immediately noted them as most likely containing fiberglass and removed all affiliate links from the website.

Amerisleep Currently uses PyroGuard FR Barrier Fabric by Cyberknit

I often check back in on mattress brands that I’ve already looked into, so in 2023 I got back in touch with Amerisleep.

Currently, Amerisleep tries to avoid answering most questions about its flame barrier, besides saying something along the lines of it being fiberglass-free.

The Amerisleep website states silica is used in the mattresses these days, something that was not present in previous years, “Instead of relying on harmful fire retardant chemicals, we use natural silica. Silica is both safe for the planet and human contact. By using silica, we can construct a mattress that is healthier for you and your family.”

However, if you push Amerisleep hard enough they will eventually state their flame barrier is provided by a 3rd party, and it’s called PyroGuard FR Barrier Fabric. If you question them even more, Amerisleep will eventually relent and send you a PDF that looks like this:

The PyroGuard PDF states: “PyroGuard is manufactured without the use of glass, silica loaded rayon, modacrylic, melamine, antimony, phosphorous or chlorine. It is compliant to California Proposition 65, Oeko-Tex 100 standards and Washington State CHCC.”

So, that’s good right? Amerisleep finally tells the truth about its flame barrier, right?

The PyroGuard pdf looks good at first, but the more you look at it, the more things begin to make less sense.

Cyberknit Claims PyroGuard is just Cotton and Polyester

The first thing that caught my attention was “Content: Cotton/Polyester”.

If a cotton/polyester blend is such a good flame-retardant – WITHOUT the use of glass, silica loaded rayon, modacrylic, melamine, antimony, phosphorous, or chlorine – then why don’t more mattress brands just use a cotton/polyester blend?

The second thing that caught my attention was “Compliant to.. Oeko-Tex 100 Standards”.

Does that mean it’s actually certified by Oeko-Tex, or just that Cyberknit has deemed it to be compliant?

The third weird thing I noticed was the line at the bottom that says, “Each mattress manufacturer is responsible for conducting tests of each mattress configuration to a particular standard for
FR and physical performance. Fabrics alone cannot be certified to pass these tests.”

Does this mean that Amerisleep has to do additional things to the fabric to make it pass flammability testing standards? Additional things, such as add a FR chemical spray?

The fourth thing I thought was weird is the mention of “no silica loaded”.

Does this mean Amerisleep is adding hydrated silica to a flame barrier provided by Cyberknit? If so, that goes against what they said before about using amorphous silica and not hydrated silica.

Because I wanted answers that Amerisleep obviously was never going to give me, I went to Cyberknit’s website hoping to find more information on its PyroGuard FR Barrier, and perhaps some proof of Oeko-Tex 100 certifications. However, the Cyberknit website provides very little information regarding its products and technologies, the website is more of a corporate showcase than a source of information.

I emailed Cyberknit, multiple times, from different email addresses, asking how PyroGuard FR Barrier Fabric Product 905 can be used as a flame-retardant barrier if it’s just cotton and polyester. And since it was my main suspicion, I also asked Cyberknit if PyroGuard FR Barrier Fabric was treated with a fire-resistant chemical that was not listed in the PDF.

Cyberknit ignored all of my emails.

Final Thoughts on Amerisleep’s Transparency and Fiberglass

Amerisleep changed its story so many times over the past 4 years that I don’t know what to think, and that’s on top of being very dodgy and unwilling to be upfront in the first place. In the end, Amerisleep basically put all liability on Cyberknit, the supposed provider of its flame barrier, yet Cyberknit provides zero information about its products.

For this reason, Amerisleep will remain as an unrecommended mattress brand that is contradictory, deceptive, and could even potentially contain fiberglass.

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Last Updated on May 4, 2024

John Snow

While shopping for his daughter’s first “big girl” bed in 2019, John learned about the hidden dangers of fiberglass in mattresses. Since then, he’s made it his mission to expose as much hidden fiberglass in mattresses as possible. His ultimate goal is federal regulations that ban fiberglass from being used in mattresses, or at least a law that requires it to be listed as a material on required tags.

www.JSnowCreations.com