Finest and Worst Natural Mattresses — The Wild West of Advertising Claims

• Authorized claims are nebulous — “Natural” is not a authorized time period within the natural mattress {industry}. Mainly, anybody can name themselves natural. There are natural certifications, however they’re personal certifications, and the federal government does not get entangled. As a result of the federal government does not get entangled, there isn’t any one policing what may be mentioned. So purchaser beware!

• Firms misuse natural certifications — Some firms are claiming to be GOTS or GOLS licensed manufacturers, however should not. That is necessary to grasp. They’re claiming another person’s certification as their very own. This took me a while to determine, however as soon as I began in search of it, I discovered it industry-wide. Some firms are passing off the certification of a provider as their very own.

Utilizing a portion of GOTS licensed natural cotton is not the identical factor as getting your manufacturing unit GOTS licensed. So meaning it isn’t a GOTS licensed mattress. That solely implies that one in every of their suppliers is a GOTS licensed producer. However why do not they’ve their very own certification? Getting their very own certification would imply they might ALSO be restricted on different supplies they utilized in that mattress. However with no certification, we will not ensure what else is inside.

It might be doable that 10% is from this natural provider and 90% is one thing else. Certification makes all that clear. This is likely one of the explanation why we determined to make use of MADE SAFE certification as the usual for this submit. That certification prevents all hearth retardants from getting used.

• Some firms are nonetheless utilizing hearth retardants, polyurethane foam and adhesives and being coy about it — Some firms are utilizing what they name “flame boundaries” however not being clear about these being comprised of hearth retardant chemical substances. In a few of these accounts, the corporate says they do not comprise sure kinds of hearth retardants, however does not specify about ALL hearth retardants generally. So in that case, what are they not telling me?

In my analysis on on-line boards, I discovered that some firms have been recognized to place natural cotton covers over polyurethane foam. Whereas different firms are saying issues like they do not use adhesives in between layers of the mattress, however by no means say something in regards to the 800+ coils they used adhesives on.

These firms are being very coy about what they’re NOT saying, so it is all about what is just not mentioned. Once more, this makes the MADE SAFE certification all of the extra necessary to determine whether or not they have problematic chemical substances inside or not.

• Why would an natural firm want CertiPUR-US® certification? — We oddly discovered that some “natural” firms bothered to additionally get CertiPUR-US® certification. The explanation that is odd is that this certification is for firms utilizing polyurethane foam. Wait, I believed an “natural” mattress did not have polyurethane foam? Hmmmm, that is odd …

• Latex mattresses — All natural latex beds are a unhazardous different to reminiscence foam comprised of pure latex sourced from rubber bushes. Natural latex has nice temperature regulation, good help and stress reduction for again and shoulder ache with a medium-firm really feel, and has bounciness.

They’re additionally denser and heavier, making them extra steady for heavy sleepers. However this mattress has no coils, so the bounce feels completely different for again sleepers, facet sleepers, and abdomen sleepers.

Sadly, issues should not all the time what they appear within the latex mattress {industry}. After Avocado Mattress was sued for having artificial chemical substances inside their “pure” latex mattresses, Mamavation took a deeper dive into pure latex mattresses and latex mattress topper merchandise you possibly can learn about right here. Most manufacturers are utilizing pure Talalay latex or Dunlop latex.

• Spring mattress allergenic-free no latex (coils) — It is a mattress produced with coils solely. About 6% of the inhabitants is allergic to latex, so having a mattress free from latex could be an necessary factor to have. Most manufacturers use adhesive to connect the encased coil, which we frown upon. The very best manufacturers will warmth seal the encased coils to one another. These manufacturers will sometimes use licensed natural wool, natural cotton cloth, and natural cotton fill.

• Spring mattress hybrid mixture of latex and coils — That is the preferred choice, combining the 2 completely different attributes of squishy latex with the bounce of coils. Folks sometimes need a mixture based mostly on how smooth it’s and bouncy it’s.

Once more, as a result of this can be a combo, there are extra alternatives to be careful for adhesives (glues), polyurethane foam and hearth retardants. The very best mattresses could have natural cotton cloth, natural cotton fill, natural wool, and natural latex.

• Skinny mat — These are extra like a skinny mattresses. It is not very fashionable, however I wished to verify to say it as a result of they’re kinda neat. These skinny mats are sometimes stuffed with wool, cotton, and/or latex and may be stiff when positioned on the ground.

• Not our favourite natural mattress manufacturers — Natural claims are unclear and largely unverifiable. For instance, one simple strategy to inform is to test to see who the certification is made out to. If it does not have their identify, then you realize it isn’t their certification however a provider’s certification. Simply because some supplies have been claimed to be purchased from an natural provider does not imply your entire mattress is a licensed natural mattress.

You possibly can very simply check this out on the GOTS web site to seek for manufacturers which might be licensed. One other potential downside is the totality of the certifications. Simply because a manufacturing unit is GOTS licensed, does not imply that each one the merchandise that they produce are GOTS licensed. One other factor we discovered on this class was firms solely getting licensed to supply mattress equipment, however not the mattress itself.

As well as, firms that declare to be natural, however do not have certification made our not favourite class. Now we have NO concept what declare is actual or not. With out certification, we actually cannot be sure about different issues like flame retardants, harmful adhesives, or polyurethane foam. That is simply the class the place issues have been messy and never verifiable.

• Higher mattress manufacturers — These natural mattress firms are higher. They’ve all their natural certifications of their names. However as a result of the mattress {industry} is as nonsensical as it’s, we began to have a look at possession and what the factories have been doing as properly.

This listing has manufacturers with factories which might be affiliated with or additionally promote different nonorganic merchandise or produce different mattresses comprised of polyurethane foam. So in different phrases, they’ve one foot within the natural world and one foot within the typical world making polyurethane foam.

• The very best guys — Mattresses offered by these firms are GOTS-certified natural in a manufacturing unit that doesn’t additionally produce mattresses comprised of polyurethane foam. As well as, these firms meet the very best requirements of nontoxicity and sustainable forestry administration ideas.

Every certification is related to all of the supplies within the mattress. Every certification pertains to the manufacturing unit that produces the mattress and never simply any of the suppliers. We did not discover any humorous enterprise or claims that have been exterior actuality.