Morbern Prepared for New California Upholstery Law

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Morbern announces immediate availability of products for the needs of the architectural and design community doing business in California. As of Jan. 1, 2020, the state no longer allows the sale or distribution of upholstered furniture (or its components) which contains flame retardants, part of Assembly Bill 2998 which passed in 2018 and became effective this month.

“We’ve been developing FR-free vinyls for several years now,” said Morbern Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing John Weaver. “As we talked to architects, designers and manufacturers, we began to understand the challenges with flame retardants, so our R&D team went to work developing product formulations which removed retardants from the majority of our commercial interiors line.”

AB 2998 is the most stringent U.S. law concerning regulation of residential flame retardant exposure. It expands on California Technical Bulletin 117-2013, enacted in January 2015, which tightened flame retardant standards on upholstery and took the focus from filling materials to the cover fabric.

Morbern currently has 16 products in stock that are compliant with TB 117 and AB 2998. Each product has a multitude of colorways.

  • Allante Free – a soft hand with leather-like qualities for the hospitality and public seating markets
  • Americana – a fabric-like, heathered texture for the contract market
  • Bantam – free of anti-microbial additives, phthalates and flame retardants for healthcare and hospitality markets
  • Bloom – Morbern’s first FR-free product for the healthcare market, with three patterns
  • Freedom – a digital print for the healthcare market
  • Hexx – a weather resistant hexagon pattern for the hospitality market
  • Maverick – a stain-resistant topcoat makes for easy cleanup in the hospitality market
  • Morcare Collection™ – select patterns are FR-free for the healthcare market
  • Natural Linen – a textured surface for healthcare and hospitality markets

Later in 2020, Morbern will introduce several additional vinyls that comply with California AB 2998.