Mattresses are particularly prone to fires. As noted by MattressNut, the average mattress “contains the largest amount of combustible material among most of your household items”—and as a result, “all mattresses manufactured and sold in the US must be resistant to all open flame sources (such as cigarettes, candles, and matches) for at least thirty minutes.”
However, making a mattress fireproof can be expensive for manufacturers. That’s why many have opted to fireproof their mattresses the cheap way—by adding fiberglass.
In theory, this fiberglass isn’t supposed to be accessible to consumers, often shielded behind a protective cover that isn’t to be removed.
That said, there are plenty of cases of internet users documenting fiberglass coming out of their mattress. One user said he was being “cut open by fiberglass” after removing his mattress’ cover; another stated that there was fiberglass “all over [her] apartment” following her washing of her mattress’ cover.
A further user said that they experienced fiberglass issues with a bed purchased from Wayfair even without removing the protective cover.
Now, another internet user is calling out a popular mattress manufacturer after complaining about fiberglass-like symptoms resulting from one of their products.
A possibly fiberglass-filled mattress
In a video with over 515,000 views, TikTok user Kayne (@kaysmiff) says she was cleaning her mattress, which she implies is made by the company Purple, when she noticed “long spindly threads” coming out of it. She states in a follow-up video that she did not remove the cover or do anything the company recommended against.
Whatever these threads were, Kayne says her reaction was immediate. According to Kayne, she began to “get itchy and get hives everywhere.”
Suspecting she may be dealing with fiberglass, she went to the company’s website, which she says claimed the mattresses did not have fiberglass, but silica.
She plays out the following as a hypothetical, implying that this is what she went through following the incident: “You call up a professional cleaning service, crying…and you’re like, ‘Hey, I think I might possibly have a fiberglass contamination in my house. Is there any way that you can come out?’ ‘Yes, we’ll be there tomorrow. By the way, like, what, what is it?’ And I said, ‘It says on the Nurple website that it’s silica,’ and they’re like, ‘That’s fiberglass.’”
As noted by fiberglass and silica supplier McNeil (and Kayne in her follow-up), silica and fiberglass are not actually the same thing. “Silica is almost completely made of silica sand with very few other compounds present. Fiberglass uses about 65% silica, and other compounds make up the rest.”
In a comment, Kayne says she believes the mattress to be a “purple plus or purple premium” and that she purchased it 3 years prior.
Do Purple Mattresses contain fiberglass, silica, or something else?
While Kayne says that the company’s website listed silica as part of its formula for keeping its mattresses flame-retardant, Purple’s website does not specifically mention silica as part of its fire-retardant protection.
Instead, one part of the website states that their “Premium and Luxe Collection builds” utilize “a new and approved flame-retardant protocol that does not utilize harmful, toxic chemicals or fiberglass material.”
Another section of the website says, “We decided not to use standard chemical flame retardant treatments, and instead found a special flame barrier fabric with unique non-toxic non-chemically treated fibers that naturally slow flames.”
The blogger FiberglassFree attempted to investigate what this flame retardant actually was in August 2023
In his blog post, he states that the company admitted to using “some fiberglass” in its beds.
He quoted an email that he says came from the company. It reads, “While this barrier does include some fiberglass, we want to ensure our sleepers are never exposed to fiberglass. This is why the fiberglass contained in our barrier is spun into the core of the yarn, which is then knit into the fabric.”
When attempting to verify this information with the live chat, the FiberglassFree author claims he was told, “There is no actual fiberglass, but the Essential Collection uses a silica fiber spun into yarn and knit into the fabric of each mattress’s fire sock, a protective layer that is underneath the cover.”
He concludes that he could not determine whether the mattresses contained fiberglass given this information. The Daily Dot has reached out to Purple for clarification and confirmation via email.
@kaysmiff I dont even know of any of this makes sense because im like acrually losing my mind lol Fuck you nurple mattress
♬ original sound – Kayne
Commenters weigh in
In the comments section, many users said they were unaware of the problem with fiberglass mattresses, while others said they had experienced something similar with other mattress brands.
“WAIT STOP. I need to know so much more information about this- because I SWEAR I couldn’t figure out what those strands were I was finding!” exclaimed a user. “thank you for posting this!!!”
“This same thing happened to me!! It’s so crazy but the only think that worked and helped was pantyhose! And you need a vacuum with a disposable filter… lots and lots of filters!!” added another.
“I’ve learned to just double wrap my mattresses w/ zip up vinyl covers. They can be wiped down,” shared a third. “All of the mattresses have fiberglass these days it’s ridiculous.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Kayne via TikTok direct message.
Update 7:26am CT May 22: In a TikTok DM exchange with the Daily Dot, Kayne said that Purple has not reached out to her since she posted her video, though she has “reached out to them and [hasn’t] gotten anywhere.”
As for the substance itself, she described the company as “extremely cagey when it comes to disclosing exactly what it is.”
“My husband was on the phone with one of their reps and when she said it was ‘silica fibers.’ My husband replied, ‘So, fiberglass.’ And she said, ‘Well, it is a type of glass fiber,’” Kayne stated. “They’ll do anything they can to skirt around using the word fiberglass.”
As for her hopeful resolution, she argued that Purple needs to change its production process entirely.
“I just hope that they stop making mattresses from material that can be harmful to people and pets,” the TikToker wrote. “My family is miserable right now and I would hate to see other families or individuals deal with what we’re going through.”
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