High Performance Fire Barriers for furniture and specialist seating manufacturers

Crib 5

Crib 5 Barrier Fabric

Wool/Viscose needled felt or Viscose needled felt.
Conforms to:

  • BS 5852:1982 Part 2 ignition source 5 (crib 5) & Schedule 3 (Ignition resistance test for interliner) of The Furniture & Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (as amended). S.I. 1324.
  • IMO FTP Code Annex 1, Part 8: 2010 – Test for upholstered furniture.

Crib 7 Barrier Fabric

Wool/Viscose needled felt or Viscose needled felt.
Conforms to:

  • BS 5852:2006, clause11, source 7 of The Furniture & Furnishing (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988.
  • IMO FTP Code Annex 1, Part 8: 2010 – Test for upholstered furniture.

Our barrier felt has a soft feel, which aides the padding and cushioning effect. Our premium felt provides upholstery with a natural spring our customers love. Finished in a pale cream colour, you can be assured that there will be no material show-through even with the finest fabrics used as upholstery covers.

Crib 5 & 7 have the strength to with stand robust furniture manufacturing practices. This high quality barrier felt conforms to your legal requirements whilst also being easy to work with.

If you are looking for an upholstery interliner that will not only provide a fire resistance but will also provide deep padding, then look no further than Cowens Ltd, where all our barrier felt is manufactured in our UK factory.


What’s required for barrier felt to achieve a pass?

In short terms the main points for barrier felt interliners to achieve a pass are:

  • Must be designed to protect the filling.
  • Fire resistance tested after a water soak and line drying.
  • Tested to BS 5852 using an ignition source 5 (Crib 5) & source 7 (Crib 7).
  • Tested to IMO FTP Code Annex 1, Part 8: 2010 – Test for upholstered furniture.
  • Fire resistance tested over non-fire-retardant foam for Crib 5 & CM foam for Crib 7.

We offer full traceability from the fibre bales, to the blended batch, to the independent laboratory test certificate, to individual rolls logged and labelled for your reassurance.

Crib 5 fire retardant barrier fabric is used in the manufacture of:

  • Furniture
  • Curtains
  • Soft furnishings
  • Headboards

Crib 7 fire retardant needled felt is used in the padding of furniture where the environment is high hazard or where a person cannot easily leave their surroundings:

  • Oil rigs
  • Psychiatric hospitals
  • Aircrafts
  • Submarines
  • Stadiums
  • Care homes
  • Hotels
  • Hospitals

Our barrier felt has continually proven that it can achieve the standards required, with regular passes for our barrier felt achieved with independent UKAS accredited laboratories. We also have full in house testing facilities for product development purposes.

We offer a completely bespoke service.

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FR Wadding

FR (Flame Retardant) wadding is used mostly in the traditional upholstery trade. It is used to stop horse hair and other fillings from bearding (poking through). As a natural wadding, it also avoids the need for synthetic foam.

Here at Cowens our FR Wadding comes in an oyster colour and is made from a mixture of natural fibres. This makes it the perfect choice for using under a light fabric when you want to give the appearance and feel of something rather sumptuous. The FR wadding feels soft and light and has a bouncy, lofty appearance.

FR wadding complies to:

  • BS 5867-2: 2008 Type B – Flammability requirements specification – Fabric for curtains, drapes and window blinds.
  • IMO FTP Code Annex 1, Part 8: 2010 – Test for upholstered furniture.

We manufacture FR wadding at our factory, and can accommodate widths up to 1.8m wide, with a choice of weights and lengths.

Standard FR wadding comes in a width of 90cm & lengths of 10 or 30 metres.

We offer a completely bespoke service.