thanks, debra.

the only other thing i can think of is some polyester that's supposedly wrapped around the cotton batting. but i don't think that could cause that intense of a smell?

the idea of contamination of the futons is an interesting one. although, i'm sure they will deny any issues or possibilities of that.

i'm not sure if the etailer is going to be willing to return 3 queen size futons. not to mention the shipping, which will be pricey.

oh debra, how i wish i would have found your website and books PRIOR to buying my beds. :( although, i'm so very thankful that i have the benefits of all your knowledge now. :)

any other thoughts or suggestions, would be greatly appreciated.

thank you.

I just did a search and found this post. After much consideration, I purchased two green cotton and wool futons from Soaring Heart Futons for my children. They arrived yesterday and I could not believe how strongly they smell! Out entire house has the odor after unwrapping just one and I had to put it in a closed room. I cannot take it outside because it is snowing here.

I have not contacted the company yet because I am not sure if this is normal or not. I thought I would see what I could find out first. Like the original poster said, there is no way I could sleep on these, but maybe after they outgas, they will not bother my children. Our futons have no boric acid on them, so it must be the cotton that smells. The strange thing is that about 10 years ago, I purchased a conventional futon and it had the exact same smell and still does a little ten years later. I assumed it was the foam they used in the mattress. Our new futons do not have foam and are supposed to be completely natural. I should have asked for a sample but I assumed this would only be necessary if someone with MCS would be sleeping on them. I am very disappointed and will update on the situation.

I just contacted Soaring Heart and was told that it is the cottonseed oil that smells and it is completely harmless. They were very nice about the whole thing and said to try airing the futon out for several days and to call back and tell them if it is better. I am only going to open one futon until I decide if we will keep them. I am hoping we will get a little sun here in the next couple days so i can take it outside. We can't afford to ship them back, so I am really hoping this will help!

Guys,

I agree, boric powder is odorless but fresh “green” and unbleached and untreated cotton has a smell that may not be familiar to anyone that has not been in the middle of a cotton field before. :)

I would strongly suggest always requesting samples first. What we do here is air out all pillows and mattresses for about 24 hours before we ship them and we always have a dehumidifier on in the mattress and pillow manufacturing room. If these mattresses were suppose to have been made as NON-BORIC, the same cleansing process should have been taken as to when manufacturing organic products. I would ask if this was done?

We do not OZONE our products, but I heard this helps. Our research has taught us that OZONING only works for a short period of time and could end us making things worst.

I would ask the company that sold you these mattresses for at least a super deal on a new one that will not have this odor. It is a federal law not to accept used mattresses but it is not against the law to try and satisfy your customer's needs.

Good luck!

Marlon Pando
President
www.whitelotus.net

I bought an organic futon from White Lotus 5 years ago and noticed a distinct smell. It was strong and did bother me. It seems that after becoming sensitized to allergens and chemicals all strong odors tend to become bothersome, even if there is not an allergic reaction. The smell dissipated after about 6 months and it is a fine futon, I still use it as a couch five years later. It is my understanding, someone correct me if I am wrong, that cotton from certain plants are processed with the seeds and this causes the excess oil that later turns rancid and causes the strong smell. Normally this smell is eliminated in the extensive processing that non-organic/low-toxic products undergo. Other cotton plants produce cotton in which, because of its nature, the seeds are separated before it is processed and this eliminates the excess oil that causes the strong smell.

I would find it acceptable to have the extensive processing (or relatively extensive), without the flame retardant if it would eliminate the strong, disagreeable odor.

Since you do not state that the cotton is organic, I assume it is not. Therefore, as non-organic cotton is the most heavily sprayed crop with pesticides, have you considered that possibility?

Hi -- I just wanted to let you know that I've had the same problem with a futon that I purchased --a strong smell that did not go away after several months. I can't tolerate being in the same room with it, but my husband doesn't even profess to smell anything unusual. I took the removable exterior cover off and washed it, but the smell turned out to be from the futon's unremovable cover, and re-saturated the exterior cover pretty soon after putting it back on. I went to a couple of stores and gave some more futons a sniff test while they were still in plastic and detected the same thing, so I decided to get rid of it and not replace it.

I would just like to add to this discussion that i have discovered that if you could wash the cotton in a futon then that strong smell would go away. I think that all cotton used in bedding or pillows is NOT washed (the only convenient way to maintain loft and fluff). i washed some cotton batting that is used for futons. The smell went away but then i was left trying to figure out how to card it (clean out seeds and sticks and whatever) and fluff it and not take til I died of old age to do this incredibly hard and time-consuming job.

I just got a futon today. It smells. I had bought a futon 15 years ago with the exact same smell. It is coming from the inside for sure. I remember it took a couple of months for the smell to go away. You would think cotton would be the less smelly option.

I am concerned about all of this and would like to ask anyone that have had problems with a White Lotus Home mattress to please let me know how we can help. It any of you are willing, please send me an email and I will send you FREE samples of our cottons so that you can tell me more input on what it is that you are having problems with. I write "problems" because we all know that we are dealing with a natural fiber that has botanical smells, just like all fruits, flowers, vegetable and threes have a botanical smells, so does cotton, kapok and other natural fibers used to make organic and natural bedding. Please feel free to visit whitelotus.net for more information on some of the natural and organic ingredients we use.

Debra, your audience could offer US (natural and organic mattress manufacturers) a wealth of information to try and reduce problems in the future. If the problem is only that the smell is strong but not harmful, should we find a natural application during the manufacturing process so that the smell is more tolerable. This is why we always suggest getting samples first.

Thank you all for your input!

Marlon Pando, President

www.whitelotus.net

I bought a natural/fiber foam futon recently and it also has a very strong smell. To me it smells exactly like MILDEW, although the futon itself appears to be clean. I'm wondering if mildew just grows inside these things if they sit long enough in a warehouse.
Anyone have any similar experiences with mildewy-smelling futons?

Hi - thought I would write about "barrier cloth", which somehow prevents chemical or other offensive offgassing materials getting through going either direction - ie, we purchased a barrier cloth mattress cover for a new futon mattress we purchased several years ago, and I had no problems sleeping on that mattress - it also had some foam inside it, to prevent the usual having to air out and continually flipping a futon mattress to prevent it having a permanent indentation from one's body shape. For the life of me, I can't recall where we purchased it from - it was a catalogue order - but:

I recently received a catalogue from "Janice's Natural Comfort Collection" (www,janices.com or call 1-800-526-4237)and it has a "Barrier Cloth Sleepsack" and a "Barrier Cloth Garment Bag" in it, and also, barrier cloth that can be purchased by the length desired...but I don't see any mattress covers in this catalogue. Have not tried searching online for either "barrier cloth" or "barrier cloth mattress covers", which might give insight as to how this fabric works, and who carries the mattress covers. They did come in different sizes.

(Does anyone know how this "barrier cloth" works?? Or what it is made of? I recall when I ordered my mattress cover, there was an explanation of what this "was", etc, but this catalogue does not give any details of this cloth. Any information anyone has would be helpful - thanks!)

Thought this might help someone out there - it certainly allowed me to get a mattress on my bed frame that I could tolerate when I was REALLY chemically ill several years ago. Aloha, Les from Hawaii

Hi Debra - thanks so very much for explaining what "barrier cloth" is - obviously, some sheets with higher thread counts, ie, 700 vs. the 285 in barrier cloth, would seemingly be even MORE effective than barrier cloth. Given that it is just "cloth", for someone who is extremely sensitive, this may not be of any help - I just remember my mattress having a bothersome strong odor, which disappeared once we got the barrier cloth mattress cover over it. I then put a mattress pad over that, and then, TWO bottom sheets to protect it all. Perhaps all that layering helped! AGain, thanks for the information! Les, from Hawaii

I wrote this once before, but here it is again. If everything else fails, adding layers of cotton blankets and sheets, some you may already have can block chemical smells and the non smells that just put you to sleep if you are sitting or laying on them. I did this with a synthetic couch until we could get something better.....But you have to wash them every few days as they pick up the chemicals....Maybe that would work on the cotton futons as well.

We also do this when we go to a motel. All their bedding is taken off in one swoop except the bottom sheet and put in the closet behind a closed door. Then we put down a heavy cotton blanket or a piece of cloth that used to be sold in fabric stores for table padding....It is like very, very, very, thick flannel...And then cotton sheets and our own cotton blankets. That works for a night or two and then they go home to the wash. Our own futons are very thin and we have several in a pile....Relatively easy to take outdoors and hang on the fence in the sun....Which of course, evaporates smells and gives us a chance to use a rug beater on them to get out dust and mites and so forth (you might want to use a mask to do something like this.)

I recently purchased a japanese style 6" futon and it has an odor but that really doesn't bother me. I'm more concerned about the boric acid powder used for flame retardant. I was wondering if a mattress cover, say with particle protection down to 4 microns, would be effective at keeping the boron in the mattress and out of me. Anyone know? I really hate to go the doctor's prescription twice as much money for the easy-burn mattress route.

If Boron is an issue, you should consider getting a doctor's note and purchasing a NON-Borate, chemical free mattress or futon. We offer these and are now our best sellers. If you can not get a doctor's note, you can get a non-borate chemical free mattress or futon but it would have to be completely wrapped in wool in order to pass FR1633 (a recent fire law). The wool we use is washed with water and mild detergent. Please feel free to contact us for more information. Also, as stated above, always ask for samples of the fibers used in your natural or organic bedding. We offer these for free and small fees for mattress and pillow samples. All fees that you may pay White Lotus Home for samples are applicable to your next order, so you do not loose anything really.

Have a GREEN day, thanks!

Marlon Pando
President

White Lotus Home

I've had a futon for more than a year. The odor was really bad at first but then it went away. Its recent return seems to coincide with very humid weather. Interesting to hear about manufacturers using dehumidifiers. Perhaps it's good bedding for the desert.

We have given up on organic cotton mattresses. We purchased two different lines and cannot use either of them. They both have a very strong odor and the odor has gotten worse over time.

When my son slept on his, his respiratory allergies were worse.

With the first mattress, we were told that the company did not separate out the seeds/twigs so the smell could be the cottonseed oil. It was recommended that we buy a handpicked cotton mattress which we did. My son again had respiratory problems using the mattress and again over time the smell of the mattress increased. One place I spoke to said that cotton has a tendency to get moldy. I actually cut open the first mattress and did find biological material in with the cotton.

I have fear of dampness and cotton futons so I ordered a double wool futon. Hopefully the drying effect of the wool will keep the mattress mold free. Hate to hear about people not being able to live with organic mattresses. Maybe try one of the latex and/or soy foam mattresses? I will update if the double wool futon I ordered from small wonders doesn't work out for me.