Seat Cushion Foam Insert Recall

Q: Is there any immediate risk to me or my family?

Thankfully, no. The digestive testing confirmed there are only small amounts of lead isolated to the interior seat cushions from a select date range. Lead is a solid element and does not off-gas or transfer from material to material. Impact risk from lead typically happens from direct ingestion, as well as a breaking down of the material over many years that would result in "dust". The customer with the initial lead finding used dust wipes to test their sofa they've had for 1.5 years to check if any dust with lead is escaping the cushions, and the lead test came back non-detect. Therefore, to the best of our knowledge, and based on conversations with toxicologists and materials experts, there is no lead ingestion risk. To place some context on the findings, the detected levels of lead of 150 ppm to 327 ppm are relatively low, especially compared to dishware from major brands that often come back with ppm results in the tens of thousands. At Medley, we still find this unacceptable and have already found a new supplier to remedy the situation.

Q: How did this happen?

From what we can conclude so far, and we’re awaiting additional sample testing to be 100% certain, the foam producer who supplied our foam has a lead contamination issue in its foam production. We’ve tested the same seat cushion foam from multiple distributors, all from the same foam producer, and all point back to the single foam producer and a specific High-Resiliency foam. When we selected this foam, we confirmed with our supplier that it was CertiPUR-US® certified. We also confirmed its listing on the CertiPUR-US® website, as well as requested the actual certification of the producer for our reference and filings. CertiPUR-US® represents that they do regular third-party testing of their materials to ensure they are not made with lead, and we relied on their representations. We’re investigating this more.

Q: What does Medley plan to do to ensure this doesn’t happen again?

If you have a sofa, chair, or ottoman with a built-in seat cushion that can't be removed, please fill out the "Request Seat Cushion Inserts" form at the bottom of this page to request a replacement. We've contracted the company Guardsman who will schedule a local service to switch out your cushion. This process will include detaching the fabric from the bottom of your piece, inserting the new cushion, then reattaching the fabric with no visible sign of the work. All costs will be covered.

Q: What if I have furniture with seat cushions that aren't removable?

We’ve already secured a new seat cushion foam producer, and tested them at ATS to ensure a non-detect for lead. Going forward, regardless of the certification, we’ll be testing our poly foam using the digestive method to ensure everything is as we expect.

Seat Cushion Foam Insert Recall: 2022

Medley is offering a voluntary product recall due to low levels of lead found in some of our seat cushion foam inserts. Independent third-party testing showed that this small amount of lead is contained only within the foam seat cushion, and not in the arms or frames which uses a different foam. The lead found is not airborne and will not have transferred to other materials. Based on the analysis from materials and toxicology experts, there is no immediate ingestion risk for lead found in the seat cushions inserts. Lead doesn't off-gas like a chemical and can only be harmful if ingested.

If you ordered chairs, sofas, sectionals, or ottomans with CertiPUR-US® poly foam seat cushions from Medley starting November 2019 through July of 2021, and your order was delivered by January 31st of 2022, your ordermay be affected. After reviewing the details below, if you'd like new seat cushion inserts sent to you, please fill out the form at the bottom of the page and we'll be in touch soon.

Please note that this recall does not affect or include cushion upholstery covers—we will only be sending new foam inserts.

After receiving your official submission, replacement inserts will be made and shipped to you free-of-charge from our new foam supplier that tested non-detect for lead in our recent laboratory testing.

Current Results

We submitted a variety of foam samples to Applied Technical Services (ATS), an independent lab that does digestive testing to carry out additional material testing. This is the approved testing method of the Consumer Product Safety Commission for testing foam. As defined by ATS, when their digestive test results came back with <5, <4, <3, etc., they categorized these as non-detect / negative:

Frame Foam: Lead came back as non-detect / negative. Arsenic came back as non-detect / negative. View report

Dacron Wrap + Glue: Lead came back as non-detect / negative. Arsenic came back as non-detect /negative.

Seat Cushions from 9 of Our Sofas We Tested: Lead present at 150-327 parts per million. By comparison, some major brands of dishware test at ten's of thousands of ppms.

New Seat Cushion Foam Supplier: We tested seat cushion foam from another supplier that came back non-detect for lead, and we'll be using it forour recall inserts as well as all new orders going forward.

Lead Dust Test: The customer with the initial lead finding used dust wipes to test their sofa they've had for 1.5 years to check if any dust with lead is escaping the cushions, and the lead test came back non-detect. Therefore, to the best of our knowledge, and based on conversations with toxicologists and materials experts, there is no lead ingestion risk.

FAQ

Is there any immediate risk to me or my family?

Thankfully, no. The digestive testing confirmed there are only small amounts of lead isolated to the interior seat cushions from a select date range. Lead is a solid element and does not off-gas or transfer from material to material. Impact risk from lead typically happens from direct ingestion, as well as a breaking down of the material over many years that would result in "dust". The customer with the initial lead finding used dust wipes to test their sofa they've had for 1.5 years to check if any dust with lead is escaping the cushions, and the lead test came back non-detect. Therefore, to the best of our knowledge, and based on conversations with toxicologists and materials experts, there is no lead ingestion risk. To place some context on the findings, the detected levels of lead of 150 ppm to 327 ppm are relatively low, especially compared to dishware from major brands that often come back with ppm results in the tens of thousands. At Medley, we still find this unacceptable and have already found a new supplier to remedy the situation.

How did this happen?

From what we can conclude so far, and we’re awaiting additional sample testing to be 100% certain, the foam producer who supplied our foam has a lead contamination issue in its foam production. We’ve tested the same seat cushion foam from multiple distributors, all from the same foam producer, and all point back to the single foam producer and a specific High-Resiliency foam. When we selected this foam, we confirmed with our supplier that it was CertiPUR-US® certified. We also confirmed its listing on the CertiPUR-US® website, as well as requested the actual certification of the producer for our reference and filings. CertiPUR-US® represents that they do regular third-party testing of their materials to ensure they are not made with lead, and we relied on their representations. We’re investigating this more.

What does Medley plan to do to ensure this doesn’t happen again?

If you have a sofa, chair, or ottoman with a built-in seat cushion that can't be removed, please fill out the "Request Seat Cushion Inserts" form at the bottom of this page to request a replacement. We've contracted the company Guardsman who will schedule a local service to switch out your cushion. This process will include detaching the fabric from the bottom of your piece, inserting the new cushion, then reattaching the fabric with no visible sign of the work. All costs will be covered.

What if I have furniture with seat cushions that aren't removable?

We’ve already secured a new seat cushion foam producer, and tested them at ATS to ensure a non-detect for lead. Going forward, regardless of the certification, we’ll be testing our poly foam using the digestive method to ensure everything is as we expect.

A Personal Note about Medley

We are a small, family-run business with a mission-driven approach to use the safest materials possible and to always be transparent with our customers. As you are probably aware, the furniture industry as a whole has a bad reputation for using questionable materials, implementing a "fast furniture" build approach, and a disappointing trend towards overseas production. We established Medley to change that by making furniture that is safer for people and the environment, and built in the United States. Today, we continue to pave our own way using eco-friendly materials and practices such as sourcing domestic FSC certified wood, the cleanest poly foam available, organic latex rubber, no-VOC glues, organic cotton linings and cushion covers, wool, natural jute, and Greenguard Gold or Oeko-TEX certified fabrics.

We're truly sorry for this experience. We look forward to resolving the issue for any of our affected customers.

Contact

For additional questions or concerns, please email the owners at FixIt@medleyhome.com or call us at (323) 801-6892.

Request Seat Cushion Inserts

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