Winkl calls in liquidators following fibreglass mattress furore

A New Zealand startup hoping to take on the big boys in the highly competitive mattress in a box sector – before being mired in controversy – has called it quits.
Founded in 2019 by Arrowtown businessman and former KPMG business strategist Simon Sheterline, the company positioned itself as the Kiwi-owned bed-in-a-box company – a category that has captured much of the mattress market overseas.
Companies Office records show Sheterline, the sole shareholder, appointed liquidators to the business last week. The company’s website and social media pages have also been taken offline.
Newsroom could not reach Sheterline and his social media has been taken offline.
The appointed liquidators, from Ecovis KGA, also declined to comment.
Winkl’s stated mission to disrupt the mattress industry in New Zealand started off strong.
A Stuff article from March 2021 said the company had sold thousands of mattresses and was on track for more than $3 million of sales in its first full financial year.
The company delivered a box mattress (the product decompresses when removed from its packaging) and offered 120-day trials, with all returned mattresses donated to charity. 
However, the space is competitive, with large international businesses pumping millions into advertising online and in podcasts.
Little New Zealand didn’t avoid that competitive nature.
In an interview with M2 magazine, Sheterline said the company had dealt with cease and desist letters and competitor companies trolling its social media pages. He said it was a badge of honour and a sign the company was on the right track.
Earlier this year the company was drawn into the middle of controversy about the health risks of materials it and other boxed mattress businesses use.
In June, Stuff’s Paula Penfold published a story linking fibreglass used as a flame retardant by Winkl to unexplained respiratory problems and skin issues, including large sores, experienced by an Auckland family.
The family ended up getting a full environmental clean of their house to deal with fibreglass contamination.
The synthetic foams used to create boxed mattresses are flammable, so to mitigate that Winkl encased its mattresses in a fire-retardant sock.
“The sock is made up of a unique blend of fibres designed to interrupt the combustion process in the event of a fire, and eliminates the need to include harmful chemical fire retardants in our foams ensuring you get a safer sleep,” its website said.
The website, now taken down, didn’t use the phrases fibreglass or glass fibres.
The fibreglass is safe if undisturbed, but the family in this case had removed and washed the mattress cover – Winkl advertised the cover being washable as a selling point.
When Stuff put questions to Sheterline, he reportedly said the products did not contain fibreglass, but pushed further, backed down to fibreglass no longer being in the products because the company could no longer source it.
He reportedly disputed the family’s Winkl mattress was the source of their health concerns, saying the product used was a specially produced product with fibres at least double the World Health Organisation guidelines for respirability.
Respirability involves entering the lungs, while inhalable means entering the airways.
Sheterline did not respond to Stuff’s questions around whether the material could cause lesions and other skin conditions.
Action against fibreglass usage in mattresses is picking up.
Lawsuits over damage caused by these materials have been filed in the United States in the past few years – most notably targeting South Korean box mattress brand Zinus and online retailer Amazon.
And in 2023 California passed a ban on the sale of fibreglass mattresses effective from 2027.