To Marketers of "Natural" or "Organic" mattresses, bedding and top-of-bed products in the United States.
By Dale Read
We (the SSA and its industry partners) have spent four-plus years now defining the terminology, certifications, standards and government regulations regarding "green" marketing claims within the mattress and bedding field in the United States. We have met with and/or worked with government agencies including: USDA-NOP, USDA-Bio-Preferred, CPSC, the Federal Trade Commission ( "Green Guides”) , and non-government agencies such as Organic Trade Association (OTA) , Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC), American Sustainable Business Council ( ASBC), Global Organic Textile Standard, (GOTS), Oregon Tilthe, Control Union, Global Organic Latex Standard ( GOLS). We have reached out to Green Guard, Oeke-Tex® 100 Standard, CertiPUR®-US as well as ISPA to create a TRANSPARENCY "truth in 'green' marketing" third-party mattress-industry contents label.
If you are going to market "eco-friendly", "natural", "all-natural" and especially "organic" mattresses and bedding products in the United States, there are very clear guidelines offered by either the FTC "Green Guides" (on substantiation ofgeneric claims) , USDA-NOP on "organic" agric-crops and food, and also from established third-party certifying bodies such as GOTS and GOLS.
We (the SSA) are here to help any member of the SSA who wishes to make "green” claims correctly in the marketplace using a third-party, accepted consumer disclosure /contents label.