As many of our visitors already know, our sales office doubles as our Sleep Laboratory. We have a permanent static display of all of our beds, as well as hybrids and pieces of the materials we use, as well as competitor’s samples, and pretty much anything we find interesting. Some of the latex samples we receive and maintain have been in our lab for years, and the physical condition of many of our synthetic samples continue to amaze us, especially subtle observations that we speak about on our web site, including the effects of sunlight as well as exposure to ordinary atmospheric conditions. Amazingly, our samples of 100% botanical latex, like that used in both of our models, stayed elastic, flexible, softer, and smooth. The color stays white/white, with no yellowing…these are samples that have been exposed to steady sunlight for about 18 months to two years. More astonishingly, a piece of synthetic blend latex, about 2″ thick and about 18″ x 18″ wide, yellowed within months, and upon wiping your hand across it, feels much like a piece of sandpaper, and the dried material literally falls off the sample. Of course, this is an extreme observation, exposing the material to direct sunlight daily, but it came as no surprise to us, since our experience with 100% urethane has shown that the material easily reacts to sunlight by turning brown and by dessicating or drying out. Bottom line: ask for botanical latex by name. It’s the good stuff, and it’ll last much, much longer than the cheap stuff.
January 30, 2009
January 28, 2009
Demand For Chemical Free Natural Latex Beds Soaring
When we started our natural latex mattress program a few years ago, we thought it would be purely a comfort motivated addition to our lineup of bedding, and maybe we’d sell a few here and there. We were very busy Tempur-Pedic dealers, but we had started hearing customers ask about Natural Latex, and truly, when we developed our initial (we spent a solid year engineering our latex program) we thought we would fill a small niche that the Birkenstock wearing, tye dye t-shirt borne customer base we attracted, would experiment with. Little did we realize that in two years time, Natural Latex beds would become the hottest selling, most popular sleep surface available..partly due to the attention gathered by global warming and eco-issues, and certainly due to word of mouth and grassroots communication, but also because consumers are becoming smarter, and more health conscious than ever. Not just about the food we eat, but with what comes in contact with our bodies. Figuring you spend 6-8 hours a day in direct intimate contact with your sleep surface, and with more and more information being disclosed about formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals being used in everything from glues to foam processing, and fabric used in mattress construction, the demand for a “chemical free” mattress has skyrocketed. Forget about the fact that Natural Latex is so wonderfully elastic, comfortable, giving, and supportive that you don’t want to leave home and have to spend the night on an alien mattress, the desire to have a bed crafted from clean, non-off gassing materials is sweeping the bedding industry. Even in these tough economic times, the popularity of our Natural latex program is mind boggling. Folks seem tired and almost angry about the fact that every time they turn around, more noxious materials are uncovered in bedding products. Fortunately, botanically derived natural latex (especially our Sri Lankan source) is a renewable, sustainable resource, and the industry itself is rapidly developing a certified organic program, which will likely be robust within the next 2 years…great news for a population eager to find even more carefully produced and regulated chemical free bedding