# Stage 5b — certification verification note

**Authored:** 2026-05-12 during the marketing-terminology + commitment-section rewrite (D3 patch).
**Status:** Two verification flags carried alongside the patched bundle. Both are factual-basis checks that don't block shipping but need to be reconciled against Huxberry's product / supplier records before the bundle goes to the Liquid Implementation Crew.

## Flag 1 — TENCEL traceability

The Environment commitment card asserts:

> Two natural fibres, traceable to source. Two fibres carry most of this mattress: Airelle wool, sourced from regeneratively grazed New Zealand farms, and TENCEL — a lyocell fibre derived from sustainably grown wood pulp.

The card title makes a **traceability** claim for both fibres. Airelle wool is verified-traceable per the claims manifest (`brief.claims[]` entry "Airelle supplier certifications" with status: verified). TENCEL traceability is **not yet verified** in the manifest.

### What "TENCEL traceable" should mean technically

Lenzing's TENCEL® branded lyocell IS traceable in principle — every batch ships with a FSC- or PEFC-certified wood-pulp origin claim, and Lenzing publishes per-batch traceability data through its E-Branding Service to customers who request it. So the underlying material IS traceable; what's missing is Huxberry's own paper trail back to the specific Lenzing line + wood source for the Velura knit cover's TENCEL component.

### What needs to happen

Verify against the supplier records (Velura supplier / Boycelik):
- Is the TENCEL in the cover the Lenzing-branded TENCEL® lyocell (which would carry the per-batch traceability) or a generic lyocell fibre that's TENCEL-adjacent but not officially Lenzing's branded line?
- If Lenzing TENCEL®: pull a sample batch's Source Certificate (Lenzing's per-batch FSC/PEFC document) and confirm the wood-pulp origin can be named.

### Outcome paths

- **Verifies clean** → upgrade the TENCEL traceability claim to `status: verified` in `brief.claims[]`. Card title stays as-is: "Two natural fibres, traceable to source."
- **Verifies as not specifically traceable** → soften the title to "Two natural fibres — one traceable to source." (Airelle wool is the explicitly-traceable one; TENCEL becomes the softer "sustainably grown wood pulp" framing already in the body.) Update `brief.claims[]` to record the limitation.
- **Verifies as Lenzing TENCEL® but Huxberry doesn't have the paper trail in-house** → acquire the per-batch certificate from the next purchase cycle; ship as-is in the meantime with the verification flag carried.

## Flag 2 — CertiPUR vs CertiPUR-US (foam component certification)

The patched bundle now surfaces the foam-component certification as **CertiPUR** (formerly **CertiPUR-US**). The `-US` suffix was dropped per brand-owner directive on 2026-05-12 because Huxberry is positioned as an international brand and `-US` reads as an Americanized regional cert, which conflicts with the heritage register the brand inhabits.

### The factual concern

**CertiPUR** (without `-US`) is **technically a separate certification program** from CertiPUR-US:

- **CertiPUR (Europe)** — administered by EUROPUR (European Manufacturers of Expanded Polyurethane Blocks). Founded 2005. EU-based foam manufacturers register their products against the European standard.
- **CertiPUR-US** — administered by the U.S. Polyurethane Foam Association (PFA). Founded 2008 as a sister program. U.S.-based foam manufacturers register their products against the American standard.

They share the **CertiPUR** brand identity and similar (but not identical) testing protocols. A foam that holds CertiPUR-US does *not* automatically hold European CertiPUR; both require separate registrations.

If Huxberry's foam supplier holds the U.S. version specifically, surfacing the cert as just **CertiPUR** is technically a misrepresentation — it implies the European cert, which may not be the cert the foam actually holds.

### What needs to happen

Verify against the foam supplier's certification records (the foam comes from the supplier behind "CertiPUR Comfort Foundation"):
- Does the foam hold European **CertiPUR** registration? *(if yes — patch is factually clean as shipped)*
- Or does it hold **CertiPUR-US** only? *(if yes — three paths, see below)*
- Or does it hold both? *(if yes — patch is factually clean and we can lean into either label)*

### Outcome paths if the foam holds CertiPUR-US only

- **(a) Get European CertiPUR registration** — the supplier may already meet the standard; recurring registration with EUROPUR brings the label in line with reality. Cost + timeline depend on the supplier's existing test data.
- **(b) Ship with full "CertiPUR-US" name despite the -US suffix** — accept the regional label and revert the patch's `CertiPUR-US` → `CertiPUR` swap. The international-positioning rule loses on this one component; the factual claim stays clean.
- **(c) Drop the cert name from retail surfaces entirely** — the foam component still ships as "CertiPUR Comfort Foundation" (a Huxberry-styled component name), but the cert badge in the trust strip drops, and the FAQ + materials section copy talks about the foam component without naming the specific certifying body. Cert lives only in the Technical Specs accordion (deep-link) where the precise label can be named accurately.

### Where the rename touches

The 2026-05-12 patch dropped the `-US` suffix in **seven surfaces** across the Stage 5b bundle:

1. `prototype/index.html` — sec-trust-strip cert badge (visible)
2. `prototype/index.html` — sec-trust-strip caption (visible)
3. `prototype/index.html` — inline JSON-LD hasCertification name
4. `prototype/index.html` — sec-materials subsection 3 heading + body (visible)
5. `prototype/index.html` — sec-comparison cert-detail bullet (visible)
6. `design/schema.jsonld` — Product hasCertification.name
7. `stores/huxberry.yaml.preferred_certifications_order_nhc` — store config

Reversing the rename (path b above) is a single global find-and-replace; the surfaces are all enumerated here for traceability.

## Sibling notes

- `POLICY-DRIFT-NOTE.md` — storewide sleep-trial policy
- `FAQ-PATCH-NOTE.md` — FAQ reconciliation (8-Q canonical set)
- `STICKY-ATC-PATCH-NOTE.md` — sticky-ATC + size-sheet patch
- This note (`CERTIFICATION-VERIFY-NOTE.md`) — TENCEL traceability + CertiPUR-vs-CertiPUR-US verification flags