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Finding a mattress free of glass fiber has been a hot topic for many consumers the last few years. Things really took off when people took to Reddit and social media to share their experiences of fiberglass contamination.
Does Tempurpedic have fiberglass? It uses “glass fiber”, but it won’t tell you unless you ask the right questions.
It’s True, Tempurpedic Doesn’t Have Fiberglass in the Covers
Tempurpedic is a pioneer of memory foam and was the first big brand name for memory foam mattresses. In 2012 Tempurpedic International bought Sealy, its biggest competitor, and became a powerhouse in the mattress industry, its name also changed to Tempur Sealy.
If you’re searching online to find out if Tempurpedic has fiberglass, you will undoubtedly see a resounding “No” from every website that wants to sell you a Tempurpedic mattress for a big sales commission.
“Does Tempurpedic Have Fiberglass? No. Unlike Many Cheaper Memory Foam Mattresses, You Will Not Find Fiberglass In Your Tempurpedic Mattress.” -bestmattressforyou.com
(The article was updated once mine became #1 in Google, but Wayback Machine has a copy of its incorrect article.
“Do Tempurpedic mattresses have fiberglass? No. These mattresses have a safer fire retardant system that is fully free from fiberglass” -rvandplaya.com
“Tempurpedic mattresses don’t contain any form of fiberglass, so they’re likely to be harmless for sleepers prone to skin irritation.” -sleepingocean.com
“Many mattress companies use fiberglass in their fire barriers, but TempurPedic mattresses are fiberglass free.” -sleepaim.com
The problem with most of those websites is they asked the wrong questions and got the wrong answers. Those website authors asked Tempur Sealy if its Tempurpedic mattress covers contain fiberglass. It’s true, Tempurpedic’s removable outer mattress covers don’t contain fiberglass, but that doesn’t mean the entire mattress is glass-free.
The other incorrect websites, sadly, fell for Tempurpedics cunning wordplay. At some point Tempurpedic decided to use a tactic that many other mattress manufacturers have adopted. Instead of saying its flame barrier is fiberglass, they use other terms for the potentially harmful material like “glass filament fiber”, “silica/polyester”, “continuous filament silica”, “filament poly”, and even “glass fiber”, which is all just silly semantics.
When a potential customer asks if a mattress has fiberglass, they are also probably wanting to know about “glass fiber” as well..
So, Does Tempurpedic have Fiberglass?
Tempur Sealy states its Tempurpedic mattresses use “glass fiber”.
Tempurpedic Uses Core-Spun Glass Fiber in its Mattresses
Tempurpedic cleverly crafts its replies to avoid actually answering materials questions. When Tempur Sealy does give answers, they use words like Silica and Mod-Acrylic when they actually mean glass and Modacrylic. But, if you call their bluff and be direct, you can actually get the answers you seek.
This is what Tempurpedic told me when I finally got through all of its marketing lingo:
“Conversely, the glass fibers in our mattress products are comprised of a core-spun technology that encases the glass in a flexible protective sheath housed within the internal mattress design, and is completely safe and inaccessible in normal use, even if the cover is removed.”
Is TempurPedic’s Core-Spun Glass Fiber just Fiberglass?
Core-Spun Glass Fiber just means it’s a fiber that has a core of glass fibers with some other type of material spun around the glass core. Lots of fiberglass used in mattress flame barriers is a form of core-spun glass fiber.
Glass is glass. I don’t want to sleep on a mattress that contains “glass fiber” just as much as don’t want a mattress full of “fiberglass”.
Fiberglass is a very broad term for many types of silica-based glass fiber materials. It literally just means glass, derived from silica, that is in fiber format. Because of this, mattress makers can come up with all sorts of creative alternative terms for their fiberglass. Since the brands aren’t technically lying, there’s nothing that can be done from a legal standpoint. It’s still very deceptive to know exactly what a consumer means when asking about fiberglass, but then think its okay to say it’s just core spun glass fibers.
So, there you have it. Tempurpedic definitely uses glass fiber in its mattresses. Here’s a more recent video of Tempurpedic admitting that glass fibers are in its mattresses:
Why Does it Matter if Tempurpedic has Fiberglass?
Some people accidentally had a tear in their fiberglass mattress cover by pets and kids. After some time, they noticed skin irritation and decided to investigate the cause. They found their mattresses leaking fiberglass particles from the rip in the mattress cover.
Shining a flashlight on fiberglass particles will make the shards sparkle and shimmer.
Other people had stains and spills on their fiberglass mattresses that required cleaning. They wrongly assumed their mattress covers were removable because they had zippers. Once the mattress covers were removed, the fiberglass particles were already dispersed everywhere.
Some people didn’t notice the fiberglass until after washing the cover and then their clothing in the same machine.
How is a Tempurpedic Mattress Constructed?
Tempurpedic makes many different models of mattresses, but they are all constructed in basically the same way – layers of different foams. Here’s a simple look at how a Tempurpedic mattress is built from the bottom to the top.
Tempurpedic Mattress Construction Summary:
- Hard Polyurethane Base Layer – Tempurpedic mattresses start off with a thick base layer of Polyurethane foam, often about a third to half the overall thickness of the mattress.
- Possible Air OR Spring Layers – Some Tempurpedic mattresses have one or more layers of springs, individually encased coils, to provide more adaptive support.
- Medium Polyurethane Support Layers – All Tempurpedic mattresses have one or more layers of medium firmness polyurethane layers.
- Soft Viscoelastic Foam Layers – The top layers of Tempurpedic mattresses are viscoelastic polyurethane foam, also known as memory foam. There may be two different layers of memory foam paired together.
- Flame Retardant Fire Sock – After all the foam layers, Tempurpedic encased them all with a flame-resistant cover known as a “fire sock” in the mattress industry.
- Removable Cover – Last, Tempurpedic covers the entire bed in a cooling cover with a zipper that allows the top section to be removed and cleaned in a washing machine.
Actual conversation with Tempur Sealy about Fiberglass
I contacted Tempur Sealy and asked them this:
“What materials are tempurpedic’s fire socks constructed from?”
Here’s Tempur Sealy’s reply:
“We’ve designed and manufactured our mattresses without chemical retardants, but do use an industry-standard “fire sock” made of non-toxic materials. The “fire sock” allows our mattresses to withstand grueling flame-resistance testing and still meet all federal, state, and local fire regulations, including the National Flammability Standard. For more information regarding fire regulations, you can visit the Consumer Protection Safety Agency at www.cpsc.gov.”
I then asked Tempur Sealy these follow-ups:
“So what’s it made of? Rayon? Inherently fire-resistant rayon? Silica? Polyester?”
Here’s Tempur Sealy’s 2nd reply:
“Our formula is not public knowledge. Tempur-Pedic product formulas are a trade secret; however, the raw materials and processes used in manufacturing Tempur-Pedic products are similar to those used in the production of a large variety of polyurethane foams used every day by millions of people in many different applications like furniture, bedding, carpet underlay, packaging and automotive seats. Tempur-Pedic products do not contain polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and our products meet fire safety requirements without using PBDEs. All Tempur-Pedic products are designed and manufactured to meet applicable Federal, State and local regulations (including California Prop 65).”
I then stated:
“makes me think it’s probably fiberglass, or something worse”
Then the conversation got interesting with Tempur’s 3rd reply:
“Tempur Sealy selects raw materials and manufactures with safety, quality and the environment in mind. All Tempur Sealy products have been fully evaluated to comply with all laws and regulations, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission and California Proposition 65.
To comply with the Consumer Product Safety Commission fire safety regulations, some manufacturers rely on exposed, brittle, easily crumbled fiberglass (a cheap technology that has made headlines in the past with dermal exposure and rashes).
Conversely, the glass fibers in our mattress products are comprised of a core-spun technology that encases the glass in a flexible protective sheath housed within the internal mattress design, and is completely safe and inaccessible in normal use, even if the cover is removed. To ensure safety and quality for our customers Tempur Sealy only uses this core-spun glass fiber technology, and regularly conducts independent testing to ensure continued safety, and that the materials within all Tempur Sealy products meet or exceed all regulatory compliance.”
So, that’s that! Tempurpedic states it definitely uses glass fiber in its mattresses.
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Last Updated on May 4, 2024
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.