Spoiler Alert: It is not. But here's why that warning is on there in the first place. At some point, most of us have heard that we’re not supposed to remove the tags from our mattresses, under penalty of law. Most of the tags even say something like "It is unlawful to remove this tag!" The tags and the bold act of tearing them off have become a kind of jokey cultural shorthand for oppressive, yet trivial, government regulation and rebellion against it. Jay Leno has joked that his mom is so law-abiding that she checks her tags once a month, and Woody Allen parodied the tags with a story about two drifters who break into a home and slash them off. You can go ahead and cut the tag off without fear of jackbooted mattress police kicking in your door and hauling you off to the gulag, though. The tag's stern warning is there to protect you, the end user: it's the removal of the tag before the mattress gets to the person that’s going to sleep on it that’s illegal. Take a look at your mattress tag and you’ll see that there’s a lot more on it than just the “don't remove me” warning.
The purpose of the tag is to assure consumers that they’re buying a new, never-been-used product and to let them know exactly what’s inside it. The need for this protective label arose in the early 20th century, amid a boom in consumer protection regulations. At the time, mattresses were often constructed with some unsavory stuffing — horse hair, corn husks, food waste, old rags, newspaper, and whatever else a manufacturer could come by were regularly shoved inside. Consumers would never see the stuffing, so no harm, no foul, right? Some of this stuff harbored bacteria and household pests that gave unwary consumers a not-so-restful slumber. The government tackled the problem by requiring mattress manufacturers to affix tags to their products that clearly defined their contents. Consumers could then make informed decisions and steer clear of mattresses stuffed with dangerous or gross materials. Listing the “ingredients” right on the mattress put the dirty rag guys at a distinct disadvantage in the marketplace.
So to get around the problem, having fulfilled their legal obligation to add the tag, some manufacturers simply tore it off before shipping to retailers. Elsewhere, salesmen ripped them off of slow-moving products to help sales. The government countered with a new regulation. Tags now had to have the do-not-remove warning, and federal regulations made it unlawful to “remove or mutilate, or cause or participate in the removal or mutilation of, prior to the time any textile fiber product is sold and delivered to the ultimate consumer, any stamp, tag, label, or other identification required” on them. “Any person violating this section,” the regulation continues, “shall be guilty of an unfair method of competition, and an unfair or deceptive act or practice, under the Federal Trade Commission Act.” The move deterred dishonest mattress dealers, but also confused more than a few consumers, who dutifully left the tags on for fear of prosecution. In recent years, the feds and many state governments have eased the minds of law-abiding citizens by amending the mattress laws so the tags read “this tag shall not be removed except by the consumer.”
So, go ahead, tear that sucker off and sleep easy. will match suppliers for you! Subscribe to product alert and stay updated to what's new and popular on the market.All VERTUE beds and mattresses are hand-made from scratch to your exact specifications. You can select any size, choose from an extensive list of sustainable materials and build-in a range of luxury, convenience and healthcare features to create a bed that meets your precise requirements. We manufacture VERTUE beds and mattresses in six standard sizes: If a room size dictates a wider, narrower, longer, shorter, higher or lower bed we can accommodate any variation easily. As we hand-make all VERTUE mattresses from scratch to your exact specifications you can create your ideal mattress using any combination of a wide range of materials and features. There are four layers inside every VERTUE mattresses, each with different properties: Each metal spring in a pocket sprung mattress is sewn into individual fabric pockets enabling each coil to independently absorb body weight.
Pocket springs are not linked together and therefore can echo the shape of the sleeper’s body. Spring count is important as pocket sprung mattresses can vary from 600 springs per kingsize mattress to 2,000 springs. Generally speaking the more springs there are in the mattress, the better the support. VERTUE’s pocket springs are especially manufactured from 90% recycled steel. Bonnell (open coil) spring units Bonnell spring units have metal springs which are linked from top to bottom by a spiral wire and a retaining wire used that is clipped around the perimeter of the mattress.The thickness of the spring wire can vary from a 13 gauge wire (medium firmness) to a 12 gauge or a 12.5 gauge so that a much firmer feeling is achieved. VERTUE’s Bonnell springs are especially manufactured from 90% recycled steel. Latex is a natural material made from rubber particles that can either be used as a surface pad for traditional sprung mattresses or to replace springs in the mattresses core.
Natural latex is an expensive option but it is extremely soft and supportive and provides a mattress with excellent ‘green’ credentials. It is also hypo-allergenic, anti-microbial and dust-mite resistant making it perfect for allergy sufferers. In addition, natural latex is breathable, keeping the mattress warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Memory foam is a material widely used in mattress production because reacts to pressure and body heat and moulds itself to the sleeper’s body shape. Whereas memory foam is a chemically engineered material and therefore not environmentally friendly, VERTUE mattresses use ‘memory fibre’ which shares the same characteristics but is made from recycled plastics. Horsehair is very resilient by nature and has excellent ventilating properties. The hollow fibre transports humidity away from the body and ensures a comfortable micro-climate. Horsehair also provides mattresses with greater durability and comfort. Coir or Coconut Fibre
Collected from the coconut husk, coir or coconut fibre is entirely natural and provides mattresses with excellent ventilation. The coir fibre is very tough but also elastic and it hardly deteriorates at all over time. The fibre provides good temperature management and is hygroscopic and so it binds excess room humidity. Palm fibre is obtained from the leaves of the dwarf palm and is also known ‘vegetable horsehair’. This natural product is characterized by good elasticity and is very suitable for providing mattresses with a luxurious feeling. Virgin wool curls naturally and provides mattresses with comfortable volume. It can absorb twice as much moisture as cotton, and 30 times as much as polyester. Wool also has naturally high flame resistance because of its low flammability and flame-suppressant properties and is hypo-allergenic. Virgin wool absorbs moisture from the surroundings, stopping fungal growth and so breaking the food chain that house mite depends on. Almost pure cellulose, cotton is the world’s most widely used natural fibre.
The main reasons for this are its softness and breathability. Cotton coverings in mattresses absorb moisture readily which makes them comfortable in hot weather. Bamboo fibre is a green natural fibre with a special microstructure that, when used as a mattress covering enhances its coolness and breathability. Bamboo fibre has unrivalled softness. It absorbs up to four times more moisture than cotton and contains natural antibacterial elements. Cashmere is the wool or fur of the Kashmir goat that are primarily raised in Mongolia. The fibres are highly adaptable and when transformed into mattress coverings the high moisture content allows insulation properties to change with the relative humidity in the air. Quality mattresses can be very heavy which causes problems for housekeeping staff trying to turn them. Upon request VERTUE mattresses can be designed as ‘non-turn’ which means there is a single sleeping surface and a reinforced underside. Allergy and Dust Mite Protection
VERTUE mattresses are available with special tightly sealed hypo-allergenic coverings to stop dead skin, body oils and microscopic organisms from penetrating the sleeping surface and attracting dust mites which can cause severe allergic reactions. Our turn-around time for standard sized VERTUE beds and mattresses is 7 working days from receipt of order to delivery in the UK. Custom size beds and mattresses can be manufactured and delivered within 14 working days. Delivery is free for orders of 20 mattresses or more to a single UK address. Because our individual customers’ requirements are unique every VERTUE bed and mattress we supply is made to order. We don’t have a standard range so we don’t publish a meaningless ‘standard’ price list. We prefer to listen to your precise requirements, including the budget you’re working to then build the bed you need at a price you’ll be delighted with. To prove our point, we’ve recently won a major contract by designing and manufacturing an environmentally friendly mattress with a far higher specification than the hotels’ existing premium mattress while delivering a cost saving of around 25%.