23/10/2023
🔥 THERE IS STILL TIME 🔥 a new draft of fire safety legislation in regards to furniture is being consulted on by government until Oct 24th
This not only affects the upholstery community (business & health wise), but the general public. Furniture made using Fire Retardant chemicals are extremely harmful for us (children especially - affecting their neurological development and IQ for starters) and our environment. Particles of the chemical have been found as far away as the Arctic and in breast milk.
There are a few massive things at play - the use of FR chemicals and their general impact, the increased use of which is proposed. The other, the way in which furniture will be upholstered in the wake of these regulations.
Under new rules, the lack of an existing fire label on a piece of furniture will mean that upholsterers can no longer simply replace what is broken, even if the chair is in good shape, it must be stripped to the frame & completely rebuilt. For most clients it will push the cost of saving a piece is too high for them.
If a rebuild isn’t commissioned the furniture would need to be incinerated as it would be considered ‘toxic waste’. Charity’s could not take the furniture, nor could it be sold on second hand sites such as eBay. All would be prohibited.
Most pieces come to us with no labels - how many heirlooms will be lost to affordability? All the wonderful midcentury designs will be lost. Our businesses will suffer tremendously. Not only does this affect upholsterers, but also bespoke craftspeople, furniture dealers and interior designers, anyone whose business is second hand furniture.
A huge improvement could be made by moving to a different type of Fire Safety testing system that the U.S. now use, which eradicates the need for these chemicals. It is possible to have both fire safety and live in homes that don’t poison us.
Read more & sign on this site created & spearheaded by
Eco-chair.co.uk (link in bio!)
