I want to post this story for two reasons.
One is to give you a glimpse of how I get whatever information there is about products and the other is to show how inadequate information is about products.
A woman contacted me today for a consultation regarding choosing a sofa for her teen’s bedroom.
She wrote to me:
Hi Debra,
I’ve noticed both Pottery BarnTeen and Ikea no longer treat the foam in their sofas with flame retardent chemicals.
Pottery Barn Teen also informed me that the fabrics are not treated with any chemicals and the sofas are not treated with any chemicals.
When looking for a more cost effective alternative to custom furniture is this a good option and is it safe?
Thank you! Look forward to your feedback!
I took a look at the Pottery Barn Teen website and didn’t see any information on materials at all.
I offered to call Pottery Barn Teen for her and she accepted. She said, “That would be great if you could call them. They usually don’t have the answers though.” I thought I could get some answers.
She told me the specific sofa she wanted and I called.
I called Customer Service and asked about the fabrics.
First I asked about the fiber. I asked if there were any natural fibers. All were synthetic except for one, a 100% cotton denim.
Then I asked about the finishes on the fabric. She put me on hold to connect me to the furniture department, which has a different database than customer service.
And here’s what I found out.
- All the fabrics are synthetic except the washed denim, which is 100% cotton.
- The woman in the furniture department also said “There are no chemicals on the fabric.”
- BUT the fabric DOES have a Scotchguard finish on it. (Hmmmm. They don’t understand Scothguard IS a finish that emits the toxic chemical formaldehyde.)
- The inside of the cushions are polyurethane foam WITH FIRE RETARDANT. No FR on the fabric, but it is on the foam.
- No info on wood or finishes.
I couldn’t recommend this product. Incomplete information. But what I could find out was enough for me to reject it as toxic.
My client said, “Wow. That’s unbelievable. Company touts that no fire retardants on foam. Scotch guard not good either.”
Exactly.
It took about half an hour to get this information.
I’m not picking on Pottery Barn here. This morning I called West Elm about a finish on a bed frame another reader asked about and I couldn’t find out if the finish was water-based or oil-based. There is a BIG difference between the two in terms of outgassing toxic chemicals and the length of time they continue to outgas.
These companies and others need to give us sufficient information to evaluate the toxicity of their products.
Please note it’s been my experience that I have no problem getting all the information I want from businesses that are making toxic-free products. They know their materials and are proud of them.
