The Level IV Seal (SSA Level 4) is the fourth and highest level seal of the SSA Environmental & Safety Program.  To earn the SSA Level IV seal for a given mattress model, a manufacturer must meet the following requirements:

• Disclose materials used in construction and achieve a minimum of 95% of bio-based and/or pre-consumer recycled content material in component categories of fabric and quilt.
• Disclose materials used in construction and achieve a minimum of 95% bio-based, pre-consumer recycled and/or steel for core.
• Certify finished mattress to Global Organic Textile Standard.
• Test mattress for VOCs emissions.
• Certify latex foam products to Global Organic Latex Standard.

In addition, they must meet all the requirements of the SSA Level I, Level II and Level III thresholds.

SSA Level III requirements:

• Disclose materials used in construction and achieve a minimum of 70% of bio-based and/or pre-consumer recycled content material in component categories of fabric and quilt.
• Disclose materials used in construction and achieve a minimum of 50% bio-based, pre-consumer recycled and/or steel for core.
• Top fabric is certified to UL ECO-INSTITUT, Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 (fabric component), OE 100 (cotton), or Global Organic Textile Standard (fabric component).

SSA Level II requirements:

• Disclose materials used in construction and achieve a minimum of 20% bio-based, air, water, pre-consumer recycled content material, and/or steel in component categories of fabric and quilt and 10% for core.
• Certify the top fabric to UL ECO-INSTITUT (fabric), Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 (fabric), Global Organic Textile Standard (fabric), or OE 100 OE (cotton) or equivalent testing.
• Certify flexible polyurethane foam products to CertiPUR-US®, UL ECO-INSTITUT or Oeko-Tex® Standard 100.
• Certify latex foam products to UL ECO-INSTITUT or Oeko-Tex® Standard 100.

SSA Level I requirements:

• Disclose materials used in construction and percentages of material content if applicable.
• Achieve a minimum of 20% of bio-based, air, water, or pre-consumer recycled content in component categories of fabric and quilt.
• Participate in an annual survey to identify carbon footprint issues and commit to continuous improvement.
• Meet all federal safety flammability requirements.
• Meet all safety requirements for children’s products if applicable.
• Provide a warranty for the product.

SSA labels are applied to finished mattress products.  In practice, the SSA Level IV Seal means that a specific mattress model has met the SSA's Level IV requirements.

The Level IV Seal is part of a voluntary four-level seal and consumer disclosure label (CDL) program created by the SSA (Specialty Sleep Association).  This program aims to help mattress manufacturers understand how to substantiate environmental claims, and help consumers understand the environmental and safety attributes of the products made by participating manufacturers.  The SSA is an organization of mattress and sleep product manufacturers, retailers and suppliers that is dedicated to providing product transparency and consumer education for specialty sleep products.