In the Times recently: Wake up! Your mattress is full of flame retardants.
It says: “For decades the strictest fire safety rules in the world have led to UK foam mattresses being filled with chemicals linked to cancer.”
Nearly every foam mattress sold in Britain contains chemical flame retardants, some 2kg to 6kg of them in a typical king-size mattress. That's down to fire safety rules that have stood for almost 40 years, stricter here than almost anywhere else, which have made it nearly impossible for foam to pass without heavy chemical treatment.
The most common of these, TCPP, was classified "probably carcinogenic to humans" by the WHO in March and melamine was flagged as possibly carcinogenic in 2019. Neither of these chemicals is required in mattresses sold outside the UK and Ireland.
Other markets don't require this. Ikea, the world's largest furniture retailer, makes mattresses with flame retardants for Britain and Ireland, and without them everywhere else.
It is this commitment to finding anti-synthetic sleep solutions that are better for people and the planet that guides everything we do at Floks
Wool doesn't need the chemistry
Foam burns fast. Left untreated, polyurethane foam ignites within seconds of an open flame. To pass the same UK tests without flame retardants, foam manufacturers have no option but to treat it.
Wool behaves differently. It chars rather than melting or dripping, and resists ignition on its own. A mattress with a wool layer over natural fibre or springs can pass UK fire tests with no added chemicals at all. That's not a marketing claim. It's the same test, the same standard, a different material.
This is the heart of the big Floks mission
It was the questioning of what we slept on and under - what it was made of and what happened to it once we’d finished with it - that led Floks founder Sophie to create our mattresses and other wool bedding products.
Traceable, not just natural
Every fleece behind a Floks duvet or mattress is traced back to the farm it came from through the British Wool traceability scheme. We can tell you which flock, which region, which season it was clipped. That's the difference between "natural fibres" and knowing exactly where yours came from.
What this means for your bed
Nothing extra. No chemicals added to help a fire-resistant label pass, no residue in the fibres you sleep on for a third of your life. Just wool, doing what wool has always done.
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Sourced from The Sunday Times, 18 July 2026 ("Wake up! Your mattress is full of toxic flame retardants" - paywall)