Glossary

Shared terms before shared specifications.

Category authority starts with language that buyers, manufacturers, laboratories, and commercial teams use in the same way. These definitions explain the research framework; they are not test results or legal classifications for an unspecified product.

Record: PMS-KB-GLS-001
Version: 1.0
Published: 28 Jul 2026
Modified: 28 Jul 2026
Reviewed: 28 Jul 2026
Publisher: ProtectMySleep Category Lab

Why use protection? Compare product types Open material hierarchy

33 core terms

Plain-language definitions

Scope and limitation first

Category definitions; regulatory and standards definitions control where specifically cited.

Absorbency: The ability of a face or absorbent structure to take in and retain liquid. It does not establish back-side containment.
Air permeability: The rate of air flow through a material at a specified pressure differential.
Barrier: A defined material or system intended to limit passage of liquid, vapor, particles, organisms, or another specified challenge.
Bonding / lamination: The process and adhesive architecture that joins face material to a film, coating, or supporting layer.
Commercially confirmed: A ProtectMySleep status reserved for a named product record tied to a released BOM, qualified supply route, commercial terms, evidence scope, revision, and confirmation date. Category or material research is not commercial confirmation.
Component role: The function a specific part performs in the article—for example face, ground, fill, barrier, bond, skirt, elastic, thread, seam, zipper, or label.
Cover (umbrella search term): “Mattress cover” and “pillow cover” are broad, inconsistent search terms that can refer to a protector, encasement, pillowcase, or a manufacturer-supplied outer shell. ProtectMySleep does not use “cover” alone as a controlled product type or design-space format; the intended construction must be named.
Encasement: A removable six-sided enclosure installed around a finished mattress, usually zippered. Its performance depends on the complete fabric, seam, zipper, terminal, closure, and fit system.
Evidence state: A label showing whether information is verified, supplier-declared, an engineering target, a concept, or not comparable.
Fabric structure: The way fibres or yarns are converted into a textile, such as terry, jersey, woven, jacquard, knit, or nonwoven. A structure name is not a generic fibre declaration.
Five-sided protector: A fitted structure whose intended protection extends across the top and four sides while leaving the underside open. A fitted skirt alone does not establish five-sided barrier coverage.
Hydrostatic resistance: A material’s resistance to water penetration under a defined hydrostatic pressure and test condition.
Generic fibre: A legally or technically recognized fibre identity such as cotton, polyester, lyocell, modal, rayon/viscose, or wool. It is separate from a fabric structure, finish, product brand, or performance claim.
Jacquard: A pattern-forming woven or knit structure, not a fibre identity or complete BOM.
Jersey: A knit structure, not a fibre identity. Its stretch, hand, airflow, stability, and care performance depend on the actual yarn and construction.
Market-established reference: A format, material, construction, or term documented in the market or a primary source. It supplies research context and does not state ProtectMySleep availability.
Mattress pad: A thin mat or cushion used on top of a mattress. Within the ProtectMySleep protection-format design space, a pad is protection-first and comfort-secondary; filled or quilted structures require product-specific U.S. Part 1632 classification and compliance review.
Mattress protector: A removable protection layer installed over a finished mattress, typically low-profile and top-only or fitted. The name does not by itself define barrier coverage, performance, or regulatory classification.
Microfiber: A fine-fibre or yarn descriptor used across multiple generic fibres and fabric structures. It is not a complete generic-fibre declaration, BOM, pore specification, or barrier result.
No intentionally added PFAS: A supply-chain statement that PFAS were not intentionally added for a functional or technical effect; it is not an absolute-zero assertion.
“Down-alternative” fill: A market descriptor for non-down cushioning fill. It is not a generic fibre name or complete fill specification and does not establish loft, care, temperature, or health performance.
Pillow protector: A removable protection layer installed around a finished pillow and normally used beneath a pillowcase. Zipper, flap, or envelope closure does not by itself establish liquid, allergen, or pest-barrier performance.
Pore size: A structural measurement that may inform barrier design but does not alone establish allergen, bed-bug, liquid, or health performance.
Product Evidence Record: A traceable link among product/BOM, claim wording, market, method, sample, wash state, result, limitation, report, certificate, and change control.
ProtectMySleep design space: A set of product formats or technical routes organized for possible development. It does not confirm a SKU, material, supplier, MOQ, price, claim, certificate, or availability.
Quilted: A multi-layer construction joined by a stitch pattern, not a fibre identity or complete BOM. Fill, needle paths, layer sequence, and classification must be specified separately.
TENCEL™: Lenzing’s textile fibre brand covering TENCEL™ Lyocell, TENCEL™ Modal, and TENCEL™ Lyocell Filament. It is not a generic fibre name, and generic lyocell or modal does not authorize the trademark.
Terry: A looped surface structure, not a fibre identity. Loop yarn and ground yarn may have different generic fibre content.
Topper: An adjacent, usually thicker comfort or support layer whose primary purpose is to change mattress feel, pressure distribution, or support. It sits outside the ProtectMySleep protection-format design space.
Water repellency: Resistance to surface wetting or impact. It is not the same as sustained liquid containment.
Water-vapor transmission: The rate at which water vapor passes through a material system under defined conditions; it is not air permeability.
Wash-aged: A sample state after a specified laundering and drying profile and number of cycles.
Zipper terminal: The start/end region, stop, garage, or locking detail that can become a critical path in an encasement.