Sustainable furniture company Schplendid has become one of the first high street UK brands to eliminate flame-retardant chemicals from their sofas by introducing a 100% wool interliner – a natural, inherently fire-resistant barrier cloth, which will cover the inside of the sofa.
The wool interliner has been independently tested and certified by Eurofins, one of the world’s leading technology centres and a UKAS-accredited testing laboratory, confirming compliance with the relevant UK furniture fire safety requirements.
This represents yet another logical step for Schplendid, a brand fully dedicated to making sofas without plastics, polyester or chemicals, using only materials found in nature: wool, linen, cotton, coconut husk, wood.
The move comes at a crucial moment, as the UK Government opened its landmark consultation to reform the 1988 Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations – rules that led Britain to consume around 826,000 tonnes of flame-retardant chemicals each year, twice as much as all other European countries combined.
“The interiors world has had a fast-furniture problem for far too long, and we’ve decided (politely) to call time on it. Under the bonnet of most sofas sit layer upon layer of planet-poisoning synthetic foam, polyester fibre and chemically treated fabric, all squished together into something that’s impossible to take apart and barely lasts a few years before it’s slung out and left to languish in landfill”, says Rohan Blacker, Founder of Schplendid.
The scale of the problem and the negative impact on people’s health can no longer be ignored. TCPP, the most common fire-retardant chemical in UK furniture, can make up as much as 20 per cent of the foam in a standard British sofa and has been classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the World Health Organisation.
What’s worse about these chemicals is that they don’t simply stay on the sofa. They drift into the air we breathe, settle in household dust, and end up in our bodies. By migrating out of the furniture through wear and abrasion, they enter household air and dust, and ultimately our bodies. These are not minor concerns. Scientific studies link them to disrupted hormones, impaired fertility, reduced IQ, and developmental harm in children.
The problem extends far beyond the sofa. Mattresses, headboards, dining chairs – any upholstered item under the 1988 regulations – can carry similar chemical loads. There is also a class of substances called PFAS (known as “forever chemicals”), widely used in stain-resistant and waterproof fabric coatings, which are now detected routinely in human blood and breast milk.
“All these chemicals and nasty materials behave like that house guest who was never invited to the party and who’s now overstayed their welcome. They linger in fabrics far longer than it is healthy, and thanks to their popularity in stain-resistant, waterproof, and flame-retardant coatings, they’ve found their way into an astonishing number of everyday items, including upholstered furniture. So even when you’re curled up at home, cup of tea in hand, there’s a fair chance a few of these uninvited characters are quietly loitering in the background”, adds Blacker.
Researchers have also pointed out a painful irony: the substances meant to keep us safer from fires may, in fact, make them more dangerous. A 2017 study [5] showed that flame-retardants in UK furniture increase smoke toxicity more than reduce fire spread, with a significant proportion of fire deaths being caused by toxic gas inhalation – including carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide – rather than by direct exposure to flames.
“At Schplendid we use only natural materials, the good stuff that comes from nature herself: responsibly sourced wool, coconut husk, proper down feather. Things that breathe easier, wear in rather than wear out, and increase their charm and comfort the older they get. We’re not in the business of grand promises or miraculous transformations (heaven knows there’s quite enough of that going around). We stubbornly believe in great sofas that last a lifetime, better for the people sitting on them, and better for the planet we all live on,” concludes Blacker.
