Should You Invest in an Organic or Latex Mattress?
Buying an eco-friendly mattress is a great step towards making the indoor environment as pure as possible; but, are organic or latex mattresses really worth the cost?
Too many toxins in the air and seems like much of it is coming from your chemically laden mattress and pillows. Out with the nasty stuff and in with the new "Eco friendly" green mattress. After hours and sometimes days of research online one type of mattress rises as the cream of the crop. Over and over again people are raving about their new latex foam mattress. Comfortable, durable, no harsh chemicals, or bad smells, etc. Seems like the perfect bed, until the price tag is revealed. Why is it "going green" has to cost so dang much? Answer is simple, green is good business these days. Yep, you see these new specialty stores popping up all over the place. Organic this and all natural that and bring your America Express card which we will gladly except for your overpriced purchases. I'm sick of it!
As a mattress manufacturer for over 30 years now I've seen it all. First the waterbeds, then pillow-tops, then air beds and now memory foam. I don't blame my industry for trying to reinvent themselves every decade after all, you either evolve or you revolve. That leads us to the newest innovation, the "green" mattress. Usually comprising of all natural talalay latex or similar version of dunlop latex foam. Even certified organic cotton covers are now available with USDA Certified Organic Latex just now arriving at the docks. Imagine what these mattresses are going to cost you.
Did you know that latex foam mattresses were very popular back in the 60's and early 70's and that many of these mattresses are still being used today? That's right and then poof, they were gone. They pretty much disappeared from the American marketplace after a huge fire destroyed the one and only latex mattress core supplier in 1975. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes latex reemerged in the late 90's when Latex International established a factory in Connecticut. So why then has it taken over 10 years for these beds to once again join the mainstream in the mattress showrooms across the states?
Latex mattresses are just bad for business due to their durability. Think about it, isn't the planned obsolescence of a pillow top style mattress much better for business? The major mattress producers sure thought so. We even saw it with the car industry when GM recalled all their EV1 electric cars back in the 90's because of the lack of maintenance or repair work. Well you can't stop progress or the information super highway.
For the last 10 years I have seen a consistent rise in demand for all natural latex mattresses but what ticks me off is the ridiculous prices being charged by the major manufacturers. The reason is obvious, one and your done. No repeat customer every five years like in the past. So let's just charge twice as much to make up for it. Yeah, that's the ticket. Well enough is enough. The Internet has arrived and those of you who take your time, study the facts, compare apples to apples, will find a few of us out there offering these great "green" latex foam mattresses at honest prices. One and done, sure. But I bet you have friends and relatives that would like one of these all natural talalay or dunlop latex foam mattresses at a price you can still afford.
When companies started selling latex foam mattresses online back in 1998 it was a very slow process because most of the baby boomers had never even heard of such a thing called a latex mattress, after all they disappeared in 1975 for the most part. Mattress companies persisted in offering these great foam beds to the general public and slowly but surely they started to gain popularity again. You still couldn't find them in most mattress showrooms, but you could buy them online. Once the information started to leak out about the return of these great latex beds people started to ask for them in the local mattress showrooms. Major manufacturers were reluctant to bring them back but with enough pressure from the public they had no choice but to join in the parade.
So there you have it, why going "green" can be so expensive, at least when it comes to buying a new mattress.. Do yourself a big favor and search out a company who can honestly cut out the middleman and you'll save a lot of "green" yourself.
Ken Hightower is President of Arizona Premium Mattress Company, a latex mattress specialist, and invites you to learn more about the contents of this article at Latex Mattress Company.
