Pipefine Patio Furniture

Home furnishings retailer Pier 1 Imports said its 2010 UNICEF holiday greeting card sales raised $1.3 million for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, which works to decrease the number of preventable childhood deaths.

Robert Thompson, U.S. Fund for UNICEF senior vice president of development, said Pier 1′s “continued support and dedication to UNICEF is invaluable in helping with our lifesaving mission worldwide.”

This year, four Pier 1 Imports store managers and two field leaders were presented with plaques for 2010 holiday greeting card sales results. They are Bridgette Maine, store manager from Los Angeles/Palmdale, Calif.; Corazon Gaffud, store manager from San Diego/Mission Valley, Calif.; Brian Autote, store manager from San Diego/La Jolla, Calif.; Marlene Thompson, store manager from Saint John, New Brunswick; Teresa Schroer, field leader of San Diego region; and Robert Lemke of California/Hawaii Division.

Pier 1 began selling UNICEF greeting cards in 1985 and is the world’s largest retailer of UNICEF greeting cards, having raised more than $28 million to date.

The Pier 1 greeting card contest started in 1992 as a way to help raise awareness among U.S. school children about UNICEF’s work for children and families around the world. Each year, children in the United States ages 14 and under are invited to compete in the contest, with the winning design reproduced as an official UNICEF holiday greeting card sold at Pier 1 stores nationwide.

Funds from the sale of cards support UNICEF programs that provide lifesaving medicines, vaccines, nutritious foods, primary education, clean water and sanitation and emergency relief for millions of children and women in more than 150 countries.

Independent bedding producer Southerland is introducing what it says is the first mattress and foundation system designed to eliminate bedbugs, dust mites and their allergens.
 Southerland”Southerland’s David Corbin, left, and Joseph Latino and Gus Carey of Allergy Technologies show demonstration units for the bedding company’s new Total Protection Sleep System, which is said to eliminate bedbugs.”

The producer, based here, has teamed with Allergy Technologies, the maker of ActiveGuard Mattress Liners, on the new patent-pending Southerland Total Protection Sleep System. It will be available to retailers in late spring.

The system uses proprietary, patented ActiveGuard technology, which includes a widely used insecticide to kill bedbugs and dust mites on contact. This active approach to the growing bedbug problem gives the company an edge in the market, Southerland officials said.

The new product represents one of Southerland’s moves to aggressively grow its business, according to David Corbin, co-president. Another part of that strategy was revealed recently when Southerland was named the mattress licensee for the Sharper Image.

Corbin said both ventures demonstrate that Southerland, which became an Employee Stock Ownership Plan-owned company a year ago, is executing on its vision to develop a stable of brands with consumer-driven product development programs.

He said the Total Protection System is the first mattress and box spring system in the country to proactively address bedbug and dust mite issues. The system, available through Southerland’s contract sales channel and its retail store channel, is made from the same fabric used in ActiveGuard, the only EPA-registered and proven effective bedding product that kills new bedbug infestations and continues to provide protection against them, according to Corbin.

“Bedbugs and dust mites provide serious concerns and health issues,” he said, “and our increasingly mobile lifestyles have made the threat of infestation greater than ever. The Southerland Total Protection Sleep System is one of the most proactive and effective steps consumers can take to conveniently prevent the infestation of bedbugs or dust mites in their bedding.”

Added Gus Carey, the founder of Allergy Technologies: “Never before has there been a sleep system that offers the peace of mind like Total Protection. Southerland has taken the power of ActiveGuard, along with years of our testing, and developed a consumer bedding product that should be welcomed with open arms, especially with the current state of bedbugs in our country.”

He said ActiveGuard has been extensively tested on a number of bedbug strains by research entomologists, and is one of the few bedbug products with both published lab and field data.

Three products are offered as part of the Total Protection Sleep System. The “good” solution features a fabric impregnated with the insecticide that is used as the dust cover on the foundation. The “better” product adds the fabric to the bottom of the mattress. The “best” product is the ActiveGuard Mattress Liner, an odorless, breathable fitted sheet.

Consumers can assemble the bedbug protection system they need with those three products, Corbin said. Retail pricing is yet to be determined, the company said.

“The option to select a Total Protection Sleep System will allow consumers to choose the quality Southerland bedding solution that’s right for them,” he said. “Total Protection mattresses and foundations provide a proactive and effective way to continuously eliminate bedbugs, delivering a new and unparalleled level of protection against bedbugs, dust mites and their allergens, which may be particularly appealing to consumers with asthma, eczema or respiratory allergies.”
Ed: How did we ever survive until now?

The Southerland Total Protection Sleep System with ActiveGuard fabric is soft, breathable and odorless, providing a comfortable and restful night of sleep, officials said.

“Southerland’s new Total Protection Sleep System with ActiveGuard makes an exceptional preventive tool in the battle against bedbugs,” said Joseph Latino, director of sales and marketing for Allergy Technologies. “Coupling the Total Protection Sleep System with ActiveGuard mattress liners represents the most formidable proactive bedbug product offering available in the industry.”

Allergy Technologies is a national sponsor of the National Pest Management Assn.’s 2011 Bedbug Workshop Series, being held in 15 U.S. cities. Allergy Technologies will introduce the new Southerland Total Protection Sleep System on the tour, and also will present it to universities, hotels, shelters and pest management professionals.

GREENVILLE, Tenn. — Upholstery producer Berkline has been hit with three lawsuits in U.S. District Court here that accuse the company of violating the federal WARN Act when it suddenly shut down operations on March 30.

The suits, filed by former Berkline employees, seek class action status for their complaints. Sun Capital Partners, the private equity firm that acquired controlling interest in Berkline in 2007, also is named as a defendant in the suits.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, commonly called the WARN Act, requires companies to give 60 days notice before a mass layoff or plant closing. The suits allege Berkline failed to give proper notification about the plant closing and canceled the workers’ health insurance on the day the shutdown was announced.

The suits seek 60 days’ worth of wages, retirement plan contributions and health insurance premiums for the former employees. One of the suits also asks for $3.6 million in damages.

Berkline said it had 602 employees at the time of the closing.

Company officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday morning.

International Sleep Products Assn. officials have launched a new push for state laws to protect consumers from preventable fire and health risks, including the growing bedbug epidemic.

The mattress industry trade group is leading efforts in several states to enact new and tougher laws to address the spread of the bugs in used and renovated mattresses.

In Florida, which has been hit hard with bedbug infestation, the legislature will consider ISPA-supported legislation that would require renovators of used mattresses to sanitize their products before resale, the association said in a press release. Currently, the state has no such requirement.

Other states where ISPA is working with legislators include Connecticut, Tennessee and New York.

As bedbugs have reemerged as a pest control issue in recent years, the risk that consumers buying used and renovated mattresses will inadvertently bring these creatures into their homes has also increased, ISPA said. It said that used mattresses often aren’t disposed of properly and are instead sold to unscrupulous mattress renovators who sew a new cover on the old, and frequently filthy, used mattress without sanitizing it or disclosing that it is made from used materials.

“Though bedbugs are the most visibly recognizable threat from used mattresses, these beds may contain other hidden risks,” said Christopher Hudgins, ISPA vice president of government relations and policy. “In addition to the public health risks of sleeping on a used mattress, too often these mattresses don’t meet federal flammability requirements, meaning that renovated mattresses needlessly expose families to fire risks.”

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Southern Enterprises Inc. have announced a voluntary recall of a wall-mounted fireplace unit.

The recall applies to about 6,000 Colin Cowie dual positioning, wall-mount, gel fuel wood fireplaces sold by Southern Enterprises, also known as SEI. Consumers have been advised to stop using the product immediately.

The CPSC said that SEI has received reports of 21 cases where the product has detached from the wall and fallen to the ground, causing possible heat damage and/or fire. There have been two reports of injuries including a knee injury and broken toes.

Produced in China in July 2010, the item has an espresso finish with copper, silver or antique gold metal trim. It was sold on Home Shopping Network in October and November for about $250, the CPSC said.

Consumers who purchased the unit can obtain a corrective retrofit kit free of charge from SEI, the CPSC said. For more information, contact SEI at (877) 858-4959, or visit the firms Web site at www.seidal.com/retrofit.

Information about the recall also is available at www.cpsc.gov.