On October 23, 2024, the State of Utah finalized a revision to its state labeling law to address the online sales of bedding, upholstered furniture and quilted clothing.
For upholstered furniture, the law requires retailers to provide their online customers with a law label they can view prior to finalizing their purchase. Two options for presenting the information are permitted:
- a digital image of the law label displayed or hyperlinked on the product landing page, in the product description, in the product specifications or even within a product’s image gallery or carousel; OR
- a hyperlink to a page that lists the product’s filling materials in order of predominance, along with the company's uniform registry number and the sterilization permit number (if applicable).
Shortly after this revision was announced by Utah officials in April 2023, AHFA identified a snag: The online law label requirement does not take into account special order upholstery that has no law label at the time it is ordered.
AHFA Advocates Third Option
To simplify the labeling requirement for manufacturers and retailers alike, as well as to address the labeling requirement for custom products that are not yet constructed, AHFA negotiated a third alternative that is expected to be cleared by the Utah legislature early in 2025.
This alternative would allow manufacturers to create a single text page listing all available cushion options and a description of the filling materials in each option. Consumers would access the page via a hyperlink in the product description and be able to match the special-order selections they make with the content descriptions for each choice.
The current requirement to list filling materials in order of predominance or by percentage is expected to be dropped, because these details can only be verified as accurate after a product is constructed.
"Custom upholstery ordered online in a bricks-and-mortar store already is exempt from the digital law label requirement," notes AHFA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Bill Perdue. "The compliance alternative AHFA presented is a logical extension of that provision, while still giving the online customer a thorough description of filling materials."
Retailers Getting Rattled
Without the legislative fix, some suppliers will be unable to provide the required law labels and potentially be forced to cease online sales of special-order upholstery in Utah.
In the meantime, because Utah's new requirements take effect May 15, proactive retailers already are requesting digital law labels from their suppliers. AHFA believes the legislature will address the third option promptly in 2025, since the proposal was filed in cooperation with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF), which is the agency that drafted the original online labeling requirement.
AHFA urges members who sell upholstery online through any retail or ecommerce channel operating in Utah to begin preparing descriptions of their cushion options and the filling materials used in each option.
The terminology used in these descriptions should follow the guidelines approved by the International Association of Bedding and Furniture Labeling Officials (IABFLO). These guidelines can be found beginning on page 61 of the 2024 Manual of Labeling Laws, which is available free to AHFA members and can be downloaded from the Guides & Manuals page on AHFA's website.
