On October 8, 2023, the U.S. State of California’s Governor signed Bill AB 1059 to ban textile fiberglass in juvenile products, mattresses and upholstered furniture and amend exemptions of flame retardants restriction. 

On or after 1 January, 2027, a person, including, but not limited to, a manufacturer, retailer, importer, or online seller, shall not manufacture, sell, offer, or distribute in commerce in this state any new, not previously owned juvenile product, mattress, or upholstered furniture that contains, or a constituent component of which contains, textile fiberglass.

On and after January 1, 2027, a custom upholsterer shall not repair, reupholster, recover, restore, or renew any mattress, juvenile product, upholstered furniture, or reupholstered furniture using a replacement component that contains, or a constituent component of which contains, textile fiberglass.

The bill also amends exemptions of flame retardants restriction for juvenile products, mattresses and upholstered furniture. It extends the existing flame retardants restriction to all adult mattress components, not just mattress foam. Components of adult mattresses other than foam will be still exempted until January 1, 2027. In addition, the bill also adds following two exemptions for the flame retardants restriction:

• Aramid fiber when used in fabric in the interior of a mattress or in fabric that covers the bottom (nonsleep surface) of a mattress that has a sleeping surface on only one side of the mattress.
• Modacrylic fiber without antimony trioxide or other covered flame retardant chemicals.

Note:

“Textile fiberglass” means textile yarns whose composition includes one or more continuous glass filaments in a form suitable for knitting, weaving, or otherwise intertwining to form a textile fabric, but excludes the following:

1. Thread or fiber when used for stitching mattress components together.
2. Yarns in which the glass filaments are corespun or sheathed by another fiber.

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